The War On Drugs Find a New Spingsteen High on "Holding On" – SPIN

Three years after2014s standout Lost in the Dream, Philadelphia favorites The War On Drugs are looking for new terrain. Spinning classic riffs into a melancholic hazeof classic radio rock, the band has long locked-in on a lush, synth-drenched formula spanning their trio of past releases on the indie labelSecretly Canadian. But after signing to a major and unveiling their dreamy and crystalline new singleThinking of a Place, the band seems set on something bigger this time.

The second track from their forthcoming album A Deeper Understanding, Holding On stretchesthe bands meditativeformula into crisp, streamlined hi-fi. The 6-minute track starts with a splash of stoned synths, quickly teasing in slide guitar and glockenspiel cut straight from Born to Run or Tunnel of Love. Adam Granduciel voice has the haunting low-end grovel, which slaps against the staccato bassline with a bright, up-beat bounce. As the chorus hits, the track ascends to a soaring, anthemic spiralwith voice and guitar overlapping in a messy, monophonic ecstasy.

What once began as a bit of a simple Springsteen plus reverb punchline, the band has nowexpanded the palette into something transformative and newly striking. Years after 2011s Slave Ambient betrayed its namesake with a liberating hypnogogia, Holding On lets go of the past with an elegy of mutatingsoundscapes. But as it slowly drops back into its last wisps of spectral echo, the track pangswith something familiar, the future takingshape through reflective introspection.

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The War On Drugs Find a New Spingsteen High on "Holding On" - SPIN