The Drums' fourth album
"Abysmal Thoughts" -- yes, the quotes are part of the title -- came out of a difficult time for frontman
Jonny Pierce. Not only did his marriage end, the group's other founding member, longtime friend
Jacob Graham, left to focus on his other project,
Sound of Ceres. These crises gave
Pierce the opportunity to regroup, or more accurately, ungroup: He wrote and played all of
"Abysmal Thoughts" by himself (the album was engineered by Eaters' Jonathan Schenke). Working in solitude seems to have helped
Pierce streamline his music, especially in comparison to 2014's sprawling, uneven
Encyclopedia; on
"Abysmal Thoughts", he channels his despair into deceptively simple indie pop songs with cheery facades that could shatter at any moment. "If you should see me now, you should know that I'm trying not to cry,"
Pierce sings on the giddy "Under the Ice," while "Mirror" exalts self-loathing, doubt, and heartache to their necessary levels of drama. As
Pierce ratchets up the intensity, he also strips away the preciousness. As the sneaker-sniffing cover image suggests, this is a blunter, weirder version of
the Drums, whether
Pierce is calling his ex a "beautiful idiot" on "I'll Fight for Your Life" or wearing a former flame's T-shirt on "Blood Under My Belt." Throughout
"Abysmal Thoughts", he teeters on the edge of obsession, hiding under a blanket on "Shoot the Sun Down," while guitars circle like memories that won't leave on "Head of the Horse." As grim as things get, "Abysmal Thoughts" doesn't do away with
the Drums' lightheartedness entirely;
Pierce even sings the chorus of the title track with a mix of fear and fondness. Likewise, "Heart Basel"'s title is cutesy, but its tale of hearts softening -- and hardening -- in different locales feels genuine.
"Abysmal Thoughts"' breezy music and direct words are an arresting mix, and as
Pierce stakes his claim as a 21st century master of melodrama, he delivers the purest version of his music yet. ~ Heather Phares