“Up All Night” by The War on Drugs, Sunday, February 11, 2024
The War on Drugs released A Deeper Understanding on August 25, 2017. It was the band’s first major-label record as they had signed to Atlantic Records after releasing their previous music on the indie label Secretly Canadian . The album received critical acclaim from many publications, giving it a score on Meta Critic of 81%. The band doesn’t push for mainstream or crossover appeal, keeping their songs long, ranging from 3:59 on “ Knocked Down ” to the longest track “ Thinking of a Place ” at 11:10. Most of the songs are 5:30-7:20. Unlike the jam and progressive rock bands that listeners think of as commercially unviable, The War on Drugs’ sound is unpretentious by sticking to minimalism rather than ornate chords. Instead, the band builds an atmosphere often between two chords. IF I HOLD ON, SHOTS MAY RING. What’s a greater irony than a stoner rock band named The War on Drugs after Nixon’s extremely uncool, failed, documentedly racist program? The band’s latest album, I Don’t Live