The War on Drugs
Lost in the Dream
Secretly Canadian
It’s been a remarkable musical year already, but the hazy Philly rockers’ third album has been one of the picks of the bunch. For better or worse, frontman Adam Granduciel has always been compared with fellow Philadelphian and former W.O.D. guitarist Kurt Vile. While the narrative seemed to be that Granduciel would always be in his shadow, this brilliant LP proves that he is no sideman. In fact, it could be easily argued that Lost in the Dream surpasses anything the celebrated Vile has ever put out.
First thing’s first, there’s a lot of pain on this album; it doesn’t take Rust Cohle to figure that out. Tracks titles like “Suffering,” “Under the Pressure,” and “In Reverse” serve as pretty solid clues, but if you dig deeper, there is plenty of light seeping out of the cracks. Much of that comes from the group’s rich, lush arraignments, inspired as much by psych rock as classic 70’s AOR (album-oriented rock). His penchant for sparkling piano melodies (see: standout cut, “Eyes to the Wind”) and major chord grooves balances out his lovesick lyrics beautifully, keeping Granduciel’s heavy-duty feelings from collapsing on themselves.
For that reason, it’s obvious why Lost in the Dream has drawn so many Springsteen comparisons. The Boss is the master of making hard times feel so god-damn easy — someone capable of turning a story about some sad-sack New Jersey steel town into a life-affirming 80,000 person singalong. While it probably isn’t a fair comparison, Granduciel’s got a little of that in his locker.
The beginning of lead single, “Red Eyes,” is fraught with claustrophobic frustration, before breaking into a triumphant crescendo. He may not be singing about “a town fulla losers,” but it certainly sounds like he’s “pullin’ outta here to win.” Even the crushing monolithic, break-up ballad, “In Reverse,” is peppered with gushing swabs of synth and longing guitar licks (think: 2014’s “I’m On Fire”). No matter how dark things get here, we never forget that the sun will rise again, even when he admits, “in reverse, I’m moving.”
It’s this balance that makes Lost in the Dream so impressive. There’s an incredible amount of sonic, musical, and lyrical diversity on this album, and Granduciel’s ability to harness it all into such cohesive statement deserves all sorts of plaudits. Previous War on Drugs records (especially 2011’s Slave Ambient) taught us that Granduciel could write great songs; Lost in the Dream tells us that he is a great songwriter. And there aren’t that many of them kicking around these days.
9/10
Check out the exquisite performance of “Eyes to the Wind.”
