The War on Drug's fourth album "A Deeper Understanding", coming three years after their most influential album yet "Lost in the Dream", is a passionate hour of heartland rock.
"A Deeper Understanding" can seem very similar one sided throughout, with less highs and lows than "Lost in the Dream". Furthermore, the slower and quieter tracks, though meshing well with the album as a whole, can still drag on and bore. Often times, they seem to meander no where and for no reason, making it so one can't remember anything about them. Overall, this makes for much less concise rock pieces like in the last album.
Furthermore, it sports worse melodies than the last album, intensifying the feeling of oneness throughout the LP. Synthesizers are thrown into the mix for good measure, but do little to elevate the music overall.
The War on Drugs is obviously not trying to create an entirely new sound, as their whole purpose is to build directly off what Bruce Springsteen created back in the 70's and 80's. They did this very beautifully with "Lost in the Dream", and you can tell that's exactly what they tried to do again with "A Deeper Understanding", which is the problem. A rehash of the same sound which is already a rehashed sound.
The music itself is very lush, almost to the point where it's like a wall of sound. It seems almost like arena rock, calling back to the days of Tom Petty and Bruce Springsteen with their Americana style stadiums. The substance of the music, however, is not fit for arena rock, with its gloating and pompousness, as it feels too personal.
They bring in neo-psychedlia aspects again, creating the distinct melding of genres as they have before. This makes the album, above all else, to be incredibly good background music if anything.
Lyrics wise, the album is as good as if not better than anything they've put out before. Touching on themes of existentialism, hopelessness, and depression, the album rings with emotion in its voice. This is where the lethargic and dreamy Americana instrumentation helps the most.
The best two songs on the album are "Up All Night", a shimmering and surprisingly poppy start to the album, and "Thinking of a Place", an 11 minute song that the album seems to be built around. Furthermore "Thinking of a Place", though long and meandering, seems to go somewhere, having some type of purpose in its slow wander.
The album is by no means bad overall; it is a very solid rock album. It's just that it's too much of the same sound over time for individuals who don't absolutely love the genre, like me. For the ones that do, however, this is still a good album.
