Album Review: The War on Drugs – “A Deeper Understanding”

There has been a fair amount of pressure placed on Adam Granduciel and company over the past few years. The War on Drugs quickly became one of rock’s most endearing success stories from the past decade, with albums like 2011’s Slave Ambient and 2014’s Lost In The Dream skyrocketing them into the forefront of the genre. As such, there was a tremendous level of anticipation surrounding the band’s fourth record, A Deeper Understanding. Incredibly, the band has crafted their most affecting record to date, steeped in a late 1980s pop vibe that would feel at home in the catalog of Don Henley or Bryan Adams.

Flaunting a crisp, crystalline production, A Deeper Understanding ensures that its listeners can decipher each individual note being played. There are a lot of moving parts at play here, with lush layers of sound led by an undeniably addictive groove, but never to the point where any of the beautiful intricacies get lost in the shuffle.

Aided by Adam Granduciel’s surgically smooth voice, the clean precision of the album paves the way for some killer tracks, like “In Chains” and “You Don’t Have to Go,” that skillfully glide over their audience.

As we’ve seen many times in the past, The War on Drugs truly knows how to make the most of lengthy tracks. This album is no exception, as takes its time, never in a hurry, allowing songs like “Up All Night” and “Nothing To Find” to slowly unfold into something magical. Given the space they need to breathe, these tunes benefit from their gradual, steady momentum and are able to blossom to reach their full potential.

Living up to its vigorously ambitious title, A Deeper Understanding plugs into some celestial connective tissue that we all share. Its songs are sifted down to the raw, instinctual emotions that form their skeletons. Within the bars of tracks like the aptly named “Thinking of a Place,” the record transports its listeners to another realm. Even when placing the most fundamental ideals under the microscope, The War on Drugs finds a way to express the sheer vastness of their creation.

Spectacularly, the album paints an overwhelmingly positive atmosphere throughout its 66-minute runtime. Even in its soft, tender moments, like on the relatively somber “Knocked Down,” there is an enthusiastic appreciation for the wonders of the universe. A Deeper Understanding is a much needed breath of optimism in an often ruthless world. Sweeping guitar lines and breezy synthesizer riffs weave an encompassing tapestry of gratification.

Certainly in the same spiritual vein as Bruce Springsteen, The War on Drugs has strung together one of the most accomplished collections of late-night highway music in recent memory. A band that has always worn its influences on its sleeve, they have found an ideal blend, taking the music they clearly love and coating it with a complimentary skin to make a new sound that is entirely theirs. There’s a fine line between paying tribute to your idols and regurgitation, and it’s there that Adam Granduciel has made his home, using nostalgia to build an earnest bridge from the past to the present.

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