When I received a list of musical delights up for review, I chose Mammoth And The Drum for a couple of reasons: 1. Because I had never heard of ’em. 2. They sounded like they might be interesting.
When I typed the name into Google, found my way to their Bandcamp page and saw the tags ‘dream pop’ and ‘folk’, I can’t deny that my heart sank. Still, a reviewer’s lot is not an easy one… With a little trepidation, I pressed play for first track, ‘Why Buy Balloons Just To Let Them Go?’. Cool harmonies, ramshackle jangly guitars, and a distinctly 60s ditty blessed my ears. ‘Now That Summer Is Here’ continued the jangly, 60s-inspired pop in a similarly catchy fashion, the whole thing reminding me of a black & white edition of Ready Steady Go, with go-go girls doing the frug manically, the hip, young audience getting their groove on, whilst the hep cats on the stage smiled beatifically.
The EP has echoes of seminal folk-rockers Moby Grape as well as of The Byrds – all three tracks would sit nicely on a ‘buried treasures’ compilation of obscure acid pop. With Mammoth and the Drum, it’s best not too take it too seriously, or try to figure out what’s going on. Just lose yourself in the slightly crackpot, very retro world they evoke with such enthusiasm, and not a little skill.