The Drums - I Felt Stupid

Oh, of course we should be more cynical. One listen to 'I Felt Stupid' should be enough for grizzled music obsessives like us to start grumbling about young bands lazily recycling chiming Cure riffs and the kind of bookish romanticisms that were perfected by Orange Juice and The Smiths decades ago. You know that's the way it should be… and yet… Just look me in the eyes and tell me when the swooning chorus kicks in and Jonathan Pierce sings 'I'll give you the key to my ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-heart', you don't just want to put on that glitzy party dress you never get to wear and dance around your room pretending you're at the prom in the arms of the boy of your dreams - even though you're actually a fully grown man with a mind numbing job and an incipient beer belly. That'll be the transformative power of great pop in full effect, then.

Richard Morris