10 Almost Perfect Alternative Rock Albums
9. A Deeper Understanding - The War On Drugs (2017)
You know what you're getting with The War On Drugs. Their music cruises along with all the smoothness of of a Tesla on auto pilot. Their second album, Slave Ambient, established Adam Granduciel's signature sound, and since then, he's never strayed far from it. After the departure of Kurt Vile and the release of Lost In The Dream, Granduciel doubled down on all the evocative swirling guitars, and introspective poetry.
Granduciel's lyrics often revolve around his search for some kind of peace. His mind seems to be his own worst enemy, with lyrics that reflect a constant battle with the psyche. He can go to some pretty sinister places, but the sense of hopefulness carried in his guitar melodies, helps balance everything out.
Adam Granduciel's vocals breathily float across a sea of ambient American-heartland rock to devastatingly beautiful effect - but you do yearn for a little more oomph at times. This album needed the kind of motion tracks like Red Eyes gave Lost In A Dream. Holding On comes close, but that's it. It's not that this album contains any tracks that are bad... there's just a little too much of the same. Then again you'd be hard pressed to cut anything.