When you bruise a diamond like Lost In The Dreams, it is clear that you signed up in the history of music books. Adam Granduciel may not even need another album in his pocket, but the fans will still be desperate anticipating his new releases. And that is excactly what happened with A Deeper Understanding. From the moment it was announced, fans were getting impatient trying to predict how is it going to sound, and as the songs started leaking one by one, the excitement was only increasing.
I may sound unfair, but A Deeper Understanding is only smart move because it is based on the same formula that made its predecessor so praised. When you take a look on predecessors success, you justfy their decision. There are very few new elements. Yet, contrary to other artisfs who would just kind of copy/paste from their glorified works, War On Drugs took care that every single detail on their sophomore effort is worked through and brought to perfection. The War on Drugs still suck on the same blood of 70s and 80s influences, and those would be described as Tom Petty and Bruce Springsteen playing in Pink Floyd. I didn't choose Pink Floyd randomly, since their psychedelic vibe is obviously omnipresent in Adam's compositions.
A Deeper Understanding is 66 minutes long and holds ten songs, half of then released before the album officially dropped. My impression is that Holding On was best received, probably because it doesn't sound like anything else they have done before and it also has that radiophonic potential. The album unfolds with Up All Night that has a bit surprisingly charged bass, and everything else continues in the same manner we are used to from Adam. A dreamy and partially repetitive melody enriched with plentiful instruments gives sonic soundscape that fits very well with Adam's vocal. Pain is an evidence that Kirt Vile and Adam listen to the same type of music in their free time.
Strangest Thing could become one of the strongest tracks from the album. It is an easy number with verses such as Am I just living in the space between the beauty and the pain and the real thing. This hits the jackspot for me. The whole album is filled with similar questions - love/pain and everything in between, so no matter how good the song is, there is a hidden beauty in each one of them. After mediocre Knocked Down comes brilliant Nothing To Find that could easily surpass Holding On and the last one worth mentioning is Thinking Of A Place that shows all of the band's flaws and strenghts. Everything is long and dreamy in it, and that is just what the fans expect from The War On Drugs.
I believe this release will place them high on year-end charts and I totally understand that. I am still sticking to my opinion that Lost In the Dreams is slightly better because it had that surprise factor, while we were prepared for big things with A Deeper Understanding.
