Honorable Mention #14: The War On Drugs - Slave Ambient

In our exploration of our own restlessness, do we ever come close to pinpointing a single cause for that most vague sense of unease and a want to do, our unfailing inability to do “something”? Throughout the last 100 years and further back, bands have attempted, mostly unsuccessfully, to corral this most ethereal feeling into specific thought and explanation. Much like The Boss before him lead singer Adam Granduciel sees this attempt to explain an inborn restlessness as folly and just wants to get the fuck out of town. And like Springsteen, he sees this restlessness paired with the desire to change, to move, mentally and physically, if you have to leave, then leave….don’t worry about it, just go. That stagnation comes from the lost hopes of those who have resigned themselves to a static life, that this is as good as it gets. On The War on Drugs newest album Slave Ambient, the spirit of The Boss and Tom Petty and every other journeyman who has paid their dues snakes around and carries these songs toward that indefinable horizon that is the destination of any restless soul. And they should know.

By taking what made their predecessors so memorable and admittedly making use of more than a few of those well-worn road music stereotypes—the open air, the examination of the journey, and our forced place within some defined system of controlled networks—The War On Drugs manages to wring some last vestige of individuality from what should ostensibly be a dead sentiment by this point in time. With songs like the rollicking “It’s Your Destiny” and “Baby Missiles”, which sounds like a lost masterpiece from Jason and The Scorchers, Slave Ambient treads familiar ground and treads it well. The typical contrast of rural Americana with current indie trends has been fair game for years but it has rarely been so intensely personified as it is on Slave Ambient. Bands like Holopaw and Mojave 3 have been mining this particular vein of chiming, autumnal indie rock for years, and while the music on Slave Ambient has a bit more complexity than the aforementioned bands, the comparisons are apt. The War On Drugs have created an album that spills over with the yearning of the road and the need for change and escape.

“…cause tramps like us, baby we were born to run…” We all have our heroes.

Tracklisting:

01. Best Night
02. Brothers
03. I Was There
04. Your Love Is Calling My Name
05. The Animator
06. Come to the City
07. Come For It
08. It’s Your Destiny
09. City Reprise
10. Baby Missiles (listen to the mp3 below)
11. Original Slave
12. Blackwater