With Lost in the Dream topping so many lists as Album of the Year, I felt it only right to check out this apparently amazing The War On Drugs, Philadelphia based, Indie Rock, Shoe-Gaze anthem that critics can’t get enough of this year. While the album is relatively great and has many outstanding qualities, I can’t help but review it while thinking of it’s apparent #1 position on 8 top critic lists thus far.
The record is chill, flows nicely between tracks, has a nice aesthetic, it’s nice to see the band know what music they make and perform it well; however, the album isn’t exciting. I could understand someone calling it a well put together record, some calming indie rock you could have playing in the background, but there’s nothing bumping on this record. When I use a word like, “bumping,” however, I’m not necessarily saying that the record has to be able to make pimped-out car hydraulics bounce or force me to get up and dance or exclaim “sweet Jesus!” as the music hits my ears, but what the record lacks in this definition is that “umpf,” that thing that makes you say, “wow, that was really amazing.” The thing that this record does have, “great vocals, a solid vibe, and every song being roughly 6-minutes long where the band really jams and plays well together.” And there’s nothing wrong with that.