It seems that 2012 is the moment for a Britpop renaissance. In the past few months, not only have Pulp, Blur, and Suede—three of the Britpop “big four”—reunited, but in anticipation of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the summer Olympic Games in London, the U.K. has been awash with events highlighting the country’s cultural legacy; the same undertaking which, at the turn of the millennium, gave birth to the cult of “Cool Britannia.”
Now, exactly 20 years since Suede was proclaimed “The Best New Band in Britain” by music magazine Melody Maker (a defining moment, which in many ways heralded the start of the Britpop era), the Drowners, a four-piece group from New York who take their name from Suede’s debut single, are carrying the torch with their own modish blend of jangly indie pop. Rakish lead singer Matt Hitt—a native of South Wales with the look of a Britpop poster boy—first came to New York four years ago when he took a job teaching guitar at a summer camp in Vermont. “The first week they needed someone to chaperone a group of kids and I volunteered,” he explains in a coffee shop close to where he now lives on the Lower East Side. “On my first night I went to Times Square and a model scout spotted me outside the old Virgin Megastore.”
After spending the next few years traveling between London, Paris, Milan, and New York for modeling gigs, Hitt (who says he played guitar in a bevy of “crappy bands” while in high school), officially settled in the Big Apple last August. He soon bonded with guitarist Jack Ridley, bassist Erik Snyder, and drummer David Rubin over a shared love of “sad pop music,” and the trio formed what would later become the Drowners. “I went home to my parents’ house in Wales for two months to renew my visa,” Hitt explains. “That’s when I wrote a bunch of songs . . . My favorite band ever are the Smiths and the main thing I wanted to do was Johnny Marr–esque guitar lines and post-punk drums.”
From what we’ve heard from the Drowners so far (they are currently working on their first EP and have thus far released just a few demos online), it sounds as though Hitt has succeeded. Playful, garage rock–evoking ballads like “Long Hair” and “Unzip Your Harrington” tell romanticized stories about suburban teenage angst and fumbly first-time sexual encounters, and it’s hard not to hear a strong influence from Pulp lyricist Jarvis Cocker. In fact, Hitt recounts having just seen Pulp at Radio City Music Hall the night before, and admits there is something about gangly Cocker’s command of the stage that he hopes he can one day emulate. “Jarvis was doing all the dance moves I’m planning on studying,” he says. “He gives hope to anyone like me with a similar body type.”