When Matt Hitt says Drowners' second album was "written with a lot of uncertainty and darkness," it's easy to ask one simple question: Really? After all, the hooks careening across 'On Desire' hit as hard as their debut, a DIY record that earned Drowners a cult following on the road alongside Cage the Elephant, Foals, and Arctic Monkeys.
Unlike the introspective songs Hitt wrote for their self-titled debut, 'On Desire' was more of a group effort, too, a full-on collaboration from its demo stages at an upstate cabin to sleepless recording sessions at several NYC studios (including Electric Lady and The Bunker) with producer Claudius Mittendorfer. So while old singles like 'A Button On Your Blouse' and 'Luv, Hold Me Down' sound as urgent today as they did two years ago - channeling the lyrical storytelling of Jarvis Cocker and the punk spirit of Blur - there's no denying how widescreen 'On Desire' feels.