A low reverberating thrum starts up as the band members slip onstage. The lights glow blue, brighter and brighter. The audience is gradually submerged
into the “daydream Springsteen” world of Philadelphia’s The War on Drugs.
Their latest album Lost
in the Dream is still, eight months on from its release, enjoying a
well-deserved spot in the limelight. And it is light which defines this band
and their presence in the Roundhouse tonight. The stage lighting is wonderful
throughout the show, fulfilling the music’s hints of hazy skylines, transcendent
American sunsets and a measured, muted transition between colours. Add in front
man Adam Granduciel’s sincere singing, the wistful yet snarling guitars, the
wandering snatches of synth, saxophone and harmonica, and the recurring piano
chords, and the effect is mesmerising. The music, like the lighting, immerses
and illuminates the audience completely.
Opening act and fellow Philadelphian Steve Gunn deftly
introduces the type of sound which permeates the night; a captivating sound,
the result of the way The War on Drugs blur and elongate their American rock
influences, weaving them into something new and open-ended. The band’s
indefinite, dreamy qualities provide an interesting contrast to the crisp
November evening outside. Some of this earnest autumnal cold seems to be
summoned onstage by the six-piece group: tonight they play a louder more
powerful sound than is generally heard on their records.
Perhaps it’s because of the size and diversity of the band
that the music is so energetic - at one point, during the song An Ocean in Between the Waves, all the
players jam together in perfect synchronicity - or maybe it’s because
underneath the meandering notes lies the urgency of Granduciel’s lyrics. “I’m
just a burning man trying to keep the ship from turning over,” he sings. (With
essay deadlines looming I sort of know how he feels.)
The live energy of The War on Drugs is certainly not down to
any extra-ordinary showmanship on Granduciel’s part; apart from a few brief
words now and again, he lets his songs do the talking. And this is fine. Hearing
an extra kick to records which, as Laura Barton put it, “wrap you up in
the wonderfully sticky web of their music,” creates a sensation which is as
powerful as it is light.
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| Steve Gunn's album Way Out Weather is going to be my spring 2015 soundtrack, I can feel it |
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