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The Drin forge further into their own captivating world of sound on their fourth album, 'Elude the Torch'. Since 2021, the Cincinnati group has released one strikingly original album per year, crawling closer to the aether with a driving, reverberated rhythm. The Drin's current sextet lineup is at a new height - loose, yet focused and commanding. Deep layers of saxophone, synthesizer, percussion, strings and opaque environments stir with flickering emotion across 'Elude the Torch', while D McCartney's nebulous verbiage and grim auguries paint landscapes within the rock ‘n roll murk.
Our take: Feel It Records brings us the fourth record in as many years from this great band from Cincinnati. The Drin had a distinctive sound right from the jump, weaving post-Velvet Underground art rock together with dub reggae, noise and electronic music, and god knows what other influences, and they’ve both honed and expanded their sound with each subsequent release. The Drin is currently operating as a sextet, and as you might expect the sound here is dense, reminding me of the Jesus and Mary Chain’s “Phil Spector through a transistor radio” aesthetic, but shot through with American indie rock like Pavement, Guided by Voices, and all their associated influences like Krautrock, psych, Kiwi pop, etc. It’s a whole damn wild world of sound, and the Drin wanders through it all over the course of Elude the Torch’s 46-minute runtime (which, to be honest, goes by way too quickly). Any art rocker will appreciate this iteration of the Drin, but it’s even better if you’re here for the band’s whole journey, so god bless Feel It Records for supporting prolific yet consistently brilliant bands like Class, Why Bother?, the Cowboys, and the Drin.