PeeP on PoP- The War on Drugs

The War on Drugs- Slave Ambient (Secretly Canadian- 2011)

~by Gabe McBride

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No disrespect meant to Kurt Vile, but if Adam Granduciel and The War on Drugs get remembered as ‘The Band Kurt Vile Used to Play in’, it would be a shame. Like Vile, The War on Drugs trade in easy-going, breathy psych pop, a natural expansion and easy-to-swallow extension of the late 90’s psychedelphia scene, as both KV and TWoD got started in eastern Pennsylvania. Think Bardo Pond, without the patchouli stank, raised on Bob Dylan and Gram Parsons.

Slave Ambient is The War on Drugs second full length, following 2008’s Wagonwheel Blues (also on Secretly Canadian) and it is the band’s best release so far. My initial worry about there being  two cuts on this most recent full length off of last year’s Future Weather EP, and the highpoints at that, ‘Brothers’ and ‘Baby Missiles’, were completely unfounded, as it turns out. TWoD has added a lightly chugging vitality to both songs on Slave Ambient, and, improbably, improves both. More is more, I guess.

The War on Drugs’ Lee Ranaldo meets the The Boss blueprint is in high gear here, as the band cuts back on the (ironically) ambient guitar interludes and reprises, concentrating on their unabashed pop compositions. The swirling guitars, bass, harmonica, and organ mesmerize with the sweetness of a heady, soothing drunken buzz. Slave Ambient is the sound of one of the great contemporary American bands ambling into its prime.  

For Fans of: Sonic Youth, Kurt Vile