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Stream the Drums’ Haunting ‘Encyclopedia’

drums, encyclopedia

After three years of silence, the Drums are set to return on September 23 with their third album, Encyclopedia. On the way via Minor Records, the upcoming LP finds the Brooklyn duo in new territory — less sunshine, and more shadows, as heard on the record’s jarring lead single “Magic Mountain.”

The band’s decision to leave behind the beachy concerns of their earlier work follows a period of behind-the-scenes tension. After losing two bandmates over the past several years, founding members (and childhood friends) Jonny Pierce and Jacob Graham have found strength in bringing the project back to its roots and weathering the lineup shift. “When we get too comfortable, it sucks all the creative juices right out and we’re left with nothing,” Pierce explained in a press release. “It led to some really great songwriting.” 

Enter Encyclopedia, a project that Pierce envisioned as a no wave-revival album, but Graham foresaw as a synth-heavy take on the Sound of Music soundtrack. What they ended up with is neither. Instead, it’s the Drums’ gloomiest effort yet, albeit with the occasional bright spots: dreamy synths and a glockenspiel bittersweetly dance around each other on “U.S. National Park,” pitch-bending guitar riffs drive “Deep In My Heart,” and calming, watery loops carry Pierce’s melancholic voice throughout “I Can’t Pretend.”

Stream the album below, and pre-order it through the Drums’ official merch store.