The War On Drugs - Lost in the Dream

When I wrote a recent post on the latest album from the Drive-By Truckers, I bemoaned the fact that there had been a dearth of good albums released so far this year. How ironic then, that it was through a tweet from lead Trucker Patterson Hood, that I came to learn of this album from The War On Drugs. 

Formed in Philadelphia in 2005, they released their first album 'Waggonwheel Blues', three years later. This was the only album to feature Kurt Vile who left to pursue a successful solo career while the band followed up their debut with the critically acclaimed 'Slave Ambient' in 2011.


It would appear that the road to this third album was strewn with many pitfalls. First, main man Adam Granduciel split with his girlfriend, leaving him alone with a bunch of songs which he then set about recording as demos. Things did not go smoothly. Take for example my favourite track on the album, the rocking yet hypnotic 'An Ocean in Between the Waves'. Granduciel describes creating a beautiful, haunting song but found that when recorded as a band, they moved further and further away from his original creation. Months of frustration went by until, only two weeks before the tapes were to be handed over to the record company, Granduciel scrapped the recording and went back to the demo. Keeping only the drums from the recording, he re crafted the song himself and the result is totally wonderful. As indeed is most of the remainder of the album. 

If you are not familiar with the sound of this band then imagine something featuring swirling, ambient keyboards and metronomic drumming combined with the kind of duelling guitars I associate with the likes of Wishbone Ash or The Allman Brothers or Tom Petty or even the aforementioned Drive-By Truckers. Clearly Granduciel has been listening to his 1980's albums for inspiration and not just for the ambient electronic textures that litter the album. 'Burning' would fit quite nicely on any Springsteen album while the album closer 'In Reverse' sounds to me like one of Dylan's better 1980's releases.

This is an album of contrasts. Take for example the galloping bouncy rhythm of track two, 'Red Eyes' which still manages to introduce a more brooding atmosphere through use of bass clarinet such as that played by Bennie Maupin on 'Bitches Brew' or more recently featured in 'The Shrine/An Argument' by Fleet Foxes. Then the plodding despondency of 'Suffering' is suddenly broken by some sublime piano chords before the explosion of heavy reverb guitar which could well have been played by Nels Cline of Wilco. The whole thing is hauntingly beautiful and with each listen it reveals something new to me.

Perhaps it is the shortage of other good new music presently, that allows me to repeatedly listen to this album. Whatever the reason, I am being rewarded each time. Great stuff and a band to watch out for in future.