Buy Now
- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
-
Sep 14, 2011Indeed, many of Portamento's songs are kind of miserable -- or at least they would be, if these knowing, glum lyrics weren't paired with naïve melodies and tempos that are too brisk to be mopey.
-
Aug 30, 2011Portamento is simplicity redux, to the point of composing songs that sound too alike, and too like the last album.
-
Aug 30, 2011Everyone loves to reminisce, and we're suckers for well-crafted songs, but we also need to be challenged a little more than this boys.
-
Sep 6, 2011Contrary to popular belief, there is a great album waiting to be unleashed from the Brooklyn trio in the not-too-distant future. They just haven't given themselves time to make it yet.
-
MojoSep 8, 2011Portamento does not convince. [Oct 2011, p.105]
-
Oct 6, 2011As an album, it's probably the dullest anticipation of the year.
-
Sep 8, 2011As the title suggests, the band is evolving gradually rather than in dramatic swells.
-
Q MagazineSep 21, 2011Their second album...doesn't quite venture out into shark-infested experimental waters but it does prove that there's more to The Drums than fishy pastiche. [Oct 2011, p.113]
-
Sep 13, 2011The group's sophomore effort, Portamento, finds the band maturing but not yet mature, as it pumps out two-note New Order guitar riffs and whiny screeds against parents, religion, and its members' empty wallets.
-
Sep 1, 2011Like last year's debut, this employs repetition and deliberate naivety, but it's starting to sound disingenuous, perhaps because of a strong sense of joylessness and duty.
-
Sep 1, 2011The cycling, Wendy Carlos-style synth figures of "Searching For Heaven" offer brief respite, but hardly enough to rescue an album promising far more than it delivers.
-
Sep 6, 2011They've retained the late-80s-Mancunian-indie-plus-surf-pop formula, and though that produced some sparkling tunes first time round, now things sound somewhat thin: each lovelorn and drear ditty seems to blend into the next.
User score distribution:
-
Positive: 29 out of 36
-
Mixed: 7 out of 36
-
Negative: 0 out of 36
-
Jun 9, 2012
-
Sep 22, 2011
-
Sep 17, 2011