<\/p>\n
As good as A Deeper Understanding <\/i>was, it had an insular feel to it that was hard to penetrate, a feel that this was a good album that deserved its Grammy but not an approachable one. I Don\u2019t Live Here Anymore <\/i>is the opposite\u2026and is the best album the band has made.<\/p>\n
Warm, engaging, and human, the band\u2019s fifth album features the same sonic hallmarks as before but immediately brings the listener into the fold. It\u2019s music that is great for cruising, or reflecting, or wistful nights, or hopeful mornings. They\u2019re songs that you feel like could be yours, but play well as echo-laden anthems that will fill arenas. It\u2019s hard not to smile when this record plays.<\/p>\n
As ever, part of that appeal is the familiarity of the sounds. More than ever, the 1980s rock influences are integrated into the sound. Heavy influences of Tom Petty (\u201cWasted\u201d), Springsteen (all the songs), Fleetwood Mac (\u201cHarmonia\u2019s Dream\u201d), Phil Collins\/Mike and the Mechanics\/Genesis (\u201cI Don\u2019t Wanna Wait\u201d) and Dire Straits (\u201cRings Around My Father\u2019s Eyes\u201d) permeate the list, giving the record a heartland rock feel that \u2013 to Adam Granduciel\u2019s credit \u2013 never sounds forced or pandering. <\/p>\n
The songs still tend to stick to a groove, but this time they are more succinct, dispensing with overly long solos, interludes, intros\/outros and the like. Lyrically, the themes of change, aging and linking to the past echo through the album, from \u201cRings Around My Father\u2019s Eyes\u201d to \u201cOld Skin\u201d to the lost love of the title track to \u201cChange.\u201d For people of a certain age, who remember the influences and can relate to the lyrics within, this album will hit home.<\/p>\n
\u201cHarmonia\u2019s Dream\u201d is the most upbeat track here, a pop song that adds synth and a drum machine to its Fleetwood\/Springsteen hybrid, while \u201cI Don\u2019t Wanna Wait\u201d nails that semi-creepy pop vibe that Genesis and its solo acts perfected in the \u201880s; when the gated drums come in at the halfway mark, it sounds seriously like Peter Gabriel covering a Mike + The Mechanics song with Collins on drums. Uncanny, and cool. <\/p>\n
The lack of variety within each song is still a sore spot for this band, so tracks like \u201cOld Skin\u201d and \u201cChange\u201d tend to drag a bit, but the sentiment of \u201cRings Around My Father\u2019s Eyes,\u201d the dark, driving \u201cVictim\u201d and the grandeur of the title track make up for it. And \u201cOccasional Rain\u201d saves some optimism for the end, a necessary offset to some of the drearier themes on the disc.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s safe to say the War On Drugs has grown into the band they promised to be on their 2008 debut, and that they will not lose sight of who they are or repeat the same thing ad infinitum. I Don\u2019t Live Here Anymore <\/i>is highly recommended.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":34443,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[9371],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-46282","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-the-war-on-drugs","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/46282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/45"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46282"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/46282\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34443"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46282"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=46282"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=46282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}