The Draymin -‘Should’ve Known Better’ (Townsend Records)

Rosyth five-piece The Draymin have been together for a number of years now, and it’s clear that getting here has been quite some labour of love. The five piece acknowledge their debt to 90s dance as much as the indie music of the same era.

There are some strong songs on this album – album opener ‘Heart Attack’ gets proceedings off to a fine start, and having played this album about half a dozen times before sitting down to write this review, ‘You Bring The Fire’ is another strong cut.

There are some good ideas going on here, but there is a risk of the band a) wearing their influences too much on their sleeves and b) despite the professed dance influences coming perilously close to the overly full bin that is ‘Indie-by-numbers.’ ‘Hold Your Position’ for example, sounds way too close to Kings Of Leon for comfort. Yes, KoL are very popular, but it doesn’t do anyone any favours to sound too similar at the expnse of their own sound.

At fifteen songs (and I do blame the CD era for this) the album also seems too long – paired down to a dozen or even ten it would come across as stronger. Not a bad start, but it would be good to hear The Draymin shine through over their record collections.

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Should’ve Known Better is out now on Townsend Records