{"id":6580,"date":"2017-09-18T13:22:52","date_gmt":"2017-09-18T17:22:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/?p=6580"},"modified":"2024-09-01T12:43:55","modified_gmt":"2024-09-01T16:43:55","slug":"i-want-to-find-what-cant-be-found-a-deeper-understanding-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/2017\/09\/18\/i-want-to-find-what-cant-be-found-a-deeper-understanding-review\/","title":{"rendered":"“I Want To Find What Can’t Be Found” – A Deeper Understanding Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve been listening to The War on Drug\u2019s A Deeper Understanding<\/em> nearly non-stop for almost a month now. Yet, I\u2019ve been struggling to put some thoughts about it together to share here. I love the album, so it should be easy to write about, right?<\/p>\n

Turns out I\u2019m running into the same problem that I think Adam Granduciel faced when he began recording this album: how to deal with the legacy of the LP that came before it.<\/p>\n

\n\"\"
\n<\/figure>\n

2014\u2019s Lost In The Dream<\/em> was a classic album. It was at or near the top of just about every major critic\u2019s Best Of list for that year. It\u2019s my favorite album of the decade so far, and one of my 10 favorite albums of all-time. It was a perfectly constructed album: a tremendous opening track, followed up by the band\u2019s biggest radio hit; an absolutely massive song in the middle, two more radio-worthy songs, and one of the greatest final tracks ever. There wasn\u2019t a throw-away song to be found. It also documented Granduciel\u2019s personal issues at the time the album was recorded beautifully. It was all about being in the depths of romantic depression but beginning to find the strength to kick back toward the surface of being a normal human being again.<\/p>\n

Granduciel took an interesting path on A Deeper Understanding<\/em>. He didn\u2019t try to top Lost In The Dream<\/em> or take his band in a new direction. Rather, he took much of the soul and sound of Lost In The Dream<\/em> and worked to perfect those elements.<\/p>\n

In terms of pure sound, I will accept arguments that A Deeper Understanding<\/em> might match Lost In The Dream<\/em>. This is an amazing sounding album. Three of the greatest guitar solos of the current era are on this album. Album opener \u201cUp All Night\u201d could have been rescued from a lost Miami Vice<\/em> soundtrack with its shimmery synths and heavily processed guitar solo. \u201cPain\u201d would be the best song of the year, with the best solo of the year, were it not for \u201cStrangest Thing,\u201d which nudges it out in each category. \u201cThinking of a Place\u201d is a wonderfully arranged piece that makes you forget it checks in at over 11 minutes long. And \u201cHolding On\u201d is the one song made with an ear for radio, where I\u2019ve been hearing it on a fairly regular basis.<\/p>\n

Lyrically and emotionally it falls short of Dream<\/em>, though. It lacks that centered sense of loss and despair that made up Dream<\/em>. I think Understanding<\/em> recalls TWOD\u2019s 2012 disk, Slave Ambient<\/em>, which had a more general sense of unease and longing. Granduciel\u2019s lyrics are often hidden, but I found many of them on Dream<\/em> to be excellent. Here the vocal are as up-front as any he\u2019s recorded, but some of them aren\u2019t very strong to begin with and others sound a bit recycled from older songs.<\/p>\n

I have to admit I was also ever-so-slightly disappointed by the album simply because the five singles released in advance of the entire disk are the five best songs on it. There was no \u201cOH SHIT!\u201d song waiting for me on my first full listen. Three of the \u201cnew\u201d songs are still quite good, but two songs I\u2019m just not that into.<\/p>\n

Those are minor quibbles, and ones that are perhaps more apparent simply because Lost In The Dream<\/em> was such a flawless album. A Deeper Understanding<\/em> is easily my favorite album of the year, and it will take something massive in the next three-plus months to knock it out of that spot. It closes a magnificent, three-album run for TWOD. Slave Ambient<\/em> was a surprise to me, with its combination of heartland rock and ambient, electronic sounds. It was an announcement that the band was ready for the big time. Lost In The Dream<\/em> confirmed Slave<\/em>\u2019s promise and was, for all the pain that went into creating it, the album most artists spend their entire careers yearning to create. And Granduciel did it on his second full-length disk! A Deeper Understanding<\/em> doesn\u2019t break any new ground, and thus to me feels like the end of a chapter for the band. They\u2019ll tour it for a couple years, take a break, and likely spend another year working on their fourth LP. I expect that\u2019s when we\u2019ll hear The War on Drugs take things in a different direction.<\/p>\n

This was indeed a tough album to write about. Reading back, my words may be a bit too harsh, or make it seem like I don\u2019t really like the disk. That\u2019s definitely not the case. A Deeper Understanding<\/em> is a fantastic album. It\u2019s just an A- where Lost In The Dream<\/em> was an A+.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve been listening to The War on Drug\u2019s A Deeper Understanding nearly non-stop for almost a month now. Yet, I\u2019ve been struggling to put some thoughts about it together to share here. I love the album, so it should be easy to write about, right? Turns out I\u2019m running into the same problem that I think Adam Granduciel faced when he began recording this album: how to deal with the legacy of the LP that came before it. 2014\u2019s Lost In The Dream was a classic album. It was at or near the top of just about every major critic\u2019s Best Of list for that year. It\u2019s my favorite album of the decade so far, and one of my 10 favorite albums of all-time. It was a perfectly constructed album: a tremendous opening track, followed up by the band\u2019s biggest radio hit; an absolutely massive song in the middle, two more radio-worthy songs, and one of the greatest final tracks ever. There wasn\u2019t a throw-away song to be found. It also documented Granduciel\u2019s personal issues at the time the album was recorded beautifully. It was all about being in the depths of romantic depression but beginning to find the strength to kick back toward the surface of being a normal human being again. Granduciel took an interesting path on A Deeper Understanding. He didn\u2019t try to top Lost In The Dream or take his band in a new direction. Rather, he took much of the soul and sound of Lost In The Dream and worked to perfect those elements. In terms of pure sound, I will accept arguments that A Deeper Understanding might match Lost In The Dream. This is an amazing sounding album. Three of the greatest guitar solos of the current era are on this album. Album opener \u201cUp All Night\u201d could have been rescued from a lost Miami Vice soundtrack with its shimmery synths and heavily processed guitar solo. \u201cPain\u201d would be the best song of the year, with the best solo of the year, were it not for \u201cStrangest Thing,\u201d which nudges it out in each category. \u201cThinking of a Place\u201d is a wonderfully arranged piece that makes you forget it checks in at over 11 minutes long. And \u201cHolding On\u201d is the one song made with an ear for radio, where I\u2019ve been hearing it on a fairly regular basis. Lyrically and emotionally it falls short of Dream, though. It lacks that centered sense of loss and despair that made up Dream. I think Understanding recalls TWOD\u2019s 2012 disk, Slave Ambient, which had a more general sense of unease and longing. Granduciel\u2019s lyrics are often hidden, but I found many of them on Dream to be excellent. Here the vocal are as up-front as any he\u2019s recorded, but some of them aren\u2019t very strong to begin with and others sound a bit recycled from older songs. I have to admit I was also ever-so-slightly disappointed by the album simply because the five singles released in advance of the entire disk are the five best songs on it. There was no \u201cOH SHIT!\u201d song waiting for me on my first full listen. Three of the \u201cnew\u201d songs are still quite good, but two songs I\u2019m just not that into. Those are minor quibbles, and ones that are perhaps more apparent simply because Lost In The Dream was such a flawless album. A Deeper Understanding is easily my favorite album of the year, and it will take something massive in the next three-plus months to knock it out of that spot. It closes a magnificent, three-album run for TWOD. Slave Ambient was a surprise to me, with its combination of heartland rock and ambient, electronic sounds. It was an announcement that the band was ready for the big time. Lost In The Dream confirmed Slave\u2019s promise and was, for all the pain that went into creating it, the album most artists spend their entire careers yearning to create. And Granduciel did it on his second full-length disk! A Deeper Understanding doesn\u2019t break any new ground, and thus to me feels like the end of a chapter for the band. They\u2019ll tour it for a couple years, take a break, and likely spend another year working on their fourth LP. I expect that\u2019s when we\u2019ll hear The War on Drugs take things in a different direction. This was indeed a tough album to write about. Reading back, my words may be a bit too harsh, or make it seem like I don\u2019t really like the disk. That\u2019s definitely not the case. A Deeper Understanding is a fantastic album. It\u2019s just an A- where Lost In The Dream was an A+.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[9],"class_list":["post-6580","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-music"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6580","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6580"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6580\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13553,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6580\/revisions\/13553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6580"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6580"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6580"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}