Sunday, April 13, 2014

The War on Drugs - Lost in the Dream

I don't know, does this count as Americana? Whatever the boundaries of the genre these days, that's what it sounds like to me - an expansive, spacey take, more Springsteen than Carter Family and dipping into some of the same krautrock wells that Wilco've been known to frequent (exhibit A: the excellent 7 minute-long "An Ocean in Between the Waves"), but still unquestionably a vision of American highways, American dreams, hazy and clear. Sometimes this kind of stuff loses me when it drifts too far into either ambience for its own sake or excessive unfocused guitar noodling (ie too psychedelic) but the War on Drugs stay engaging even when their songs spread and sprawl - there's a drive to them that carries you along...the metaphor is obvious, but Lost in the Dream is a record that takes the listener on a journey. And it's really, really good.