The Drums – Encyclopedia (2014)

Led by Jonny Pierce, the Drums unite their innocent-sounding indie pop and forays into experimental rock and electronics with vulnerable songwriting. The mix of Factory Records-style indie and 1950s surf inspirations on 2009's happy-go-lucky debut single "Let's Go Surfing" and 2010's self-titled debut album made them one of the most buzzed-about indie bands on music blogs. By the time of 2014's Encyclopedia, the Drums were dabbling in cathartic rock and freewheeling electronics. When Pierce became the band's lone member, his music became more confessional, with 2017's Abysmal Thoughts and 2019's Brutalism ranking among the Drums' most heartfelt music. In the 2020s, Pierce's output reflected his dedication to inner growth, whether on 2020's serene guided meditation "Take Yr Meds" or on 2023's musical memoir Jonny, which found the Drums at their poignantly poppy best.
While growing up in a religious family in upstate New York during the '90s, Pierce wrote songs in his bedroom on a keyboard given to him by his father. Knowing he was gay from an early age, Pierce felt like an outsider and turned to the music of artists such as the Smiths for comfort. At Bible camp, he found a kindred spirit in Jacob Graham, and the pair bonded over their love for electronic acts like Kraftwerk and Wendy Carlos. When they were teens, they formed the electro-pop duo Goat Explosion. After the band split, Graham formed the indie pop group Horse Shoes. Pierce and another friend, Adam Kessler, founded the synth pop outfit Elkland, a project inspired by one of Pierce's favorite acts, Joy Electric. Eventually, Elkland signed to Columbia Records and issued the album Golden in 2005. However, it failed to make an impression and Pierce took a hiatus from making music.
In 2008, Graham and Pierce reconnected and began writing songs together, trading the electronic direction of their earlier collaboration for a guitar-based approach inspired by classic pop and indie bands ranging from the Shangri-Las and Beach Boys to the Wake and Orange Juice as well as the Smiths. In the meantime, Horse Shoes released their sole EP, 2009's The Imperial School, on Shelflife. That year, Pierce and Graham moved from Central Florida to New York City, where Kessler became their second guitarist and former Cape of No Hope drummer Connor Hanwick completed the Drums' lineup. The band's debut EP, Summertime!, appeared on Moshi Moshi in late 2009. It featured the single "Let's Go Surfing," which entered the U.K. Singles Chart at 107 and peaked at 63 when it was reissued a year later. The Drums' self-titled debut album was released in the U.K. in June 2010 and arrived in the States later in the year. Recorded in Graham's and Pierce's apartments and in a shack in Woodstock, New York, the album earned praise for its hooky songwriting and sunny melodies. The Drums peaked at number 17 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart in the U.S. and number 16 on the Albums Chart in the U.K., where it was ultimately certified gold. Along with "Let's Go Surfing," The Drums featured the single "Best Friend," which also charted in the U.K.
During the Drums' first U.S. tour, Kessler left the group and was replaced by Tom Haslow. Recruiting Violens' Chris Stein and Myles Matheny as members of their touring act, the band released the darker, keyboard-heavy Portamento in September 2011. The record reached number 44 on the U.K. Albums Chart and number ten on the Heatseekers Chart in the U.S.; in 2023, its lead single "Money" was certified gold in the U.S. by the RIAA thanks to its viral success on social media.
Following the band's tour in support of Portamento, Hanwick left the Drums. Pierce and Graham took time to regroup, each announcing solo projects. Pierce issued the electro-pop solo single "I Didn't Realize" late in 2012, while Graham formed the dreamy synth outfit Cascading Slopes, whose debut album, Towards a Quaker View of Synthesizers, appeared late in 2013. The duo reunited in a lakeside cabin in upstate New York to record 2014's Encyclopedia, which ranged from spiky rock to synth pop. Like Portamento, the album peaked at number ten on the Heatseekers chart in the U.S.; in the U.K., it reached 135 on the Albums chart.
After the end of his marriage, Pierce took some time away from music and relocated to Los Angeles. Meanwhile, Graham left the Drums in 2016 to focus on his puppetry career and his band Sound of Ceres. Now essentially Pierce's solo project, he wrote and played everything on the Drums' next album. Abysmal Thoughts, a deceptively heartbroken set of songs that Anti Records released in June 2017, peaked at number nine on the Heatseekers chart. The following year, Pierce delivered the charity single "Meet Me in Mexico," which benefited organizations providing relief from the 2018 Oaxaca earthquake. For the Drums' fifth album, Pierce continued the confessional songwriting of Abysmal Thoughts but worked with several collaborators to craft its sleek synth pop. Inspired by Pierce's move to Belgium for an ill-fated relationship and his subsequent heartache, April 2019's Brutalism was mixed by Chris Coady and hit number ten on the Heatseekers chart in the U.S. Credited to the Drums & Jonny Pierce, the October 2019 single "I Didn't Realize/You Lied" collected a pair of tracks recorded in 2012.
In May 2020, the Drums returned with "Take Yer Meds," a 14-minute guided meditation sparked by Pierce's introspection during the COVID-19 global pandemic. Another single, "Nadia," appeared that October and found the project embracing glitchy electronic pop. That December's three-song Ambulance EP continued in a similar vein, combining sparse electronics with plaintive melodies. The Drums resurfaced in April 2023 with "I Want it All," a breezy, bittersweet reflection on childhood trauma that foreshadowed the mood of the project's next album. Appearing in October 2023, Jonny dove deeper into Pierce's journey of self-acceptance as it paired soul-baring lyrics with the jangly indie sounds of the Drums' early days.