Album Review – The WAR ON DRUGS –A Deeper Cut (Atlantic/WEA)
Review by Geoff Jenke
The War on Drugs last album, 2014’s Lost in a Dream received a lot of critical acclaim with some reviewers calling it a masterpiece. Can Adam Granduciel produce another album as good?
Adam usually records albums by himself but this time has called upon his touring band to help out and it works. It would have been easy for Adam to just do it himself and try and produce another Lost in a Dream.
The album opens with Up All Night, a drum beat start with synthesisers soon kicking in. Instruments are layered as the song goes on. Pain then brings it back to mellow with nice swirling guitar work under the vocal section of the chorus with a nice guitar solo in the middle.
I would recommend you listen to Holding On while watching the video clip. A beautiful, simple but moving video. The song itself is not unlike the 2014 single Red Eyes, which is not a bad thing.
The songs are long. There is hardly anything under the 6-minute mark with the 10 songs coming in at 66 minutes. It takes a fair effort to listen to the album in one take but it is rewarding if you can. 2014’s Lost in a Dream was a musical masterpiece and this is a fine follow up which just falls short of that album. However, it is still one of the best releases of 2017.
A Deeper Meaning is the soundscapes and landscapes of the American heartland. You should travel there.
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