The War On Drugs come from America and started playing in 2005. Frontman Adam Granduciel moved to Philadelphia a few years earlier. The first person he met was Kurt Vile. Together they started playing, which soon led to the formation of the band The War on Drugs. The third studio album Lost In The Dream marked their big breakthrough.
The lineup of The War On Drugs changes quite a bit, and at the end of 2008, Kurt Vile, Charlie Hall and Kyle Loyd left the group. In 2011, when the new lineup was complete, a new album was released. The band's second studio album is Slave Ambient.
Lost In The Dream
At the end of 2013, a new album was announced. Lost In The Dream was released in March 2014. The band put the album online for a ‘first listen’ a week before the official release date. The songs 'Red Eyes' and 'Under Pressure' caught on and marked the big breakthrough for The War On Drugs. The band played at festivals such as Rock Werchter and Down The Rabbit Hole in 2015.
Top 2000
In the 23rd edition of the Top 2000, The War On Drugs have 4 entries:
Sunday Morning Classic
On Sunday 31 July 2022, the band were our guests as Sunday Morning Classic with their 2014 album "Lost In A Dream".
In 2011, The War On Drugs attracted impressive attention with Slave Ambient, an album full of cosmic Americana and roots rock that rightly earned the band worldwide recognition. Adam Granduciel, the creative mind behind The War On Drugs, realised when making the follow-up that expectations were high and he could no longer work from the sidelines. After a long period of despair, isolation and recording in various locations, the new album finally took shape.
Being a relevant album band is what Granduciel has in mind. With Lost In The Dream, he certainly adds a new highlight to his discography. It is an album that throws the doors wide open, presses the accelerator and comes to rest at appropriate moments. And mostly in a vast American landscape.
Lost In The Dream carries the legacy of great American songwriters Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and Tom Petty in a thrilling way. The unique thing about The War On Drugs is that Granduciel weaves that classic rock with elements of synthesiser pop and krautrock. Epic music from the 1980s, such as that of The Waterboys, also lingers on Lost In The Dream.
There is the rich, elegantly driving opener Under The Pressure, referring to Granduciel's breakdown the previous year, with a piano motif that shines in its simplicity. Tight motor rhythm often forms the basis under Granduciel's lush and glowing songs. This applies to the punchy single Red Eyes, where saxophone and synthesizers give the music its own atmosphere, and to An Ocean In Between The Waves; darker and more desolate; we hear Granduciel's wistful reflections over a tight beat, surrounded by beautiful, tastefully dosed sounds from the band's guitar arsenal. Burning is another example of rousing widescreen music, driven by yet another strong vocal line. Here, sometimes an English wind blows, from the corner of The Chameleons and New Order, but above all it is Bruce Springsteen who is beautifully referenced here.
All these uptempo highlights are strung together by extended ballads and a single instrumental trip that keep the album nicely balanced. The life-inspired relationship drama Suffering seems to meander a bit but gains strength through beautiful, effective guitars and the right hooks. The closing track In Reverse also has that slowly drawing effect.
The War On Drugs reach great heights on the key song Eyes To The Wind: a memorable, warmly beating, classic track with which Granduciel seems to definitively place himself in the canon of important American songwriters in the style of Bob Dylan.
Adam Granduciel called Lost In The Dream ‘more of a band album’. This band aspect is not immediately audible on this record, but live the role of his bandmates will undoubtedly grow and the songs will further evolve in a rougher jacket. Lost In The Dream is an album that has clearly been worked on a lot, mainly by Granduciel himself, who wanted to give the often long songs as much atmosphere as possible. On stage, the band can experiment a lot with this.
It hits the mark regularly on this third album by The War On Drugs. And when it hits, it hits hard. Lost In The Dream is an album that gets under your skin but also opens new vistas and can already be seen as one of the highlights of the year.
Written by Edwin Hofman (Written in Music)
Source: NPO and Wikipedia Photo: Sputniktilt
