Word went out yesterday from Saint Marie Records HQ that we've been given the go-ahead to host Drowner's video for "Written," a choice nu-gazey nugget from their expanded, self-titled ep. This shimmering dream-pop pearl with a hook to die for will hit the spot for anyone who hasn't gotten the Cocteau Twins or Medicine out of their consciousness. The clip is below, as is a brief review of Drowner I penned for issue 70 of Big Takeover magazine, available soon!
Either this co-ed Houston quartet are right on time for the umpteenth dream-pop revival, or staggeringly late for the genre’s late ‘80s inception. Take your pick I suppose! Drowner’s prime mover Anna Bouchardis so completely evocative of Elizabeth Fraser, you might mistake this disk for a Cocteau Twins reunion record. If anything else Drowner are ethereal and pristine to a fault – so much so that when their shoegazy latticework ascends to perilously delicate heights, the effect occasionally backfires into a thin, languid malaise. Still, heftier pieces, like “Written” and “Here,” elicit enough firepower to compensate for some of these lulls. Overall, Drowner are a solid thumbs up.