If the axiom that talent borrows but genius steals is true, then Drowners will be getting their Mensa membership cards in the post any day now. Ways to Phrase a Rejection, the opening track on the New York-based group's debut album, couldn't be any more Strokesy if it turned up late for interviews and started making half-arsed solo spinoff records: the megaphone-treatment slurred vocals, the spindly guitar lines, the surges and lulls are all present and correct. It's unoriginal, but it's wildly exciting. And it's also, by a distance, the best thing on this collection. As the album runs on, it's apparent Drowners' presiding influence is actually the Smiths, but in common with so many groups inspired by that most individual band, they lack what made the Smiths special: Morrissey's lyrical facility and acuity, and Johnny Marr's ability to make something unexpected out of the most commonplace ingredients. On Watch You Change, especially, you can pretty much play Smiths instrumental bingo, chalking off the elements you've heard before.