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ALBUM REVIEW: "A Deeper Understanding" by The War On Drugs

   A Deeper Understanding is a collection of shimmering, chrome plated dreams, and decidedly less dark than all previous material. 2014's Lost In The Dream was recorded solely by main man Adam Granduciel as he lay in a pit of anxiety post-breakup (or so I've read), and was a miserly exercise in self-pity and melancholy. On this new album Granduciel has invited his live band into the recording studio with him for a more collaborative process, making way for more hopeful, bright and glitzy tracks that meander along, hopping from detail to detail in hypnotically repetitive cycles. While this shift does detract from the aspect of The War On Drugs' music I gravitated to most strongly, A Deeper Understanding is still a competent - if slightly one-note - record.

   Favourite Tracks: Pain, Nothing To Find and Thinking Of A Place

   Least Favourite Tracks: Holding On and Clean Living

   Rating: C


 
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