1. A Deeper Understanding / The War on Drugs

A Deeper Understanding is a continental yawp, a sprawling open-road run, leaving demons behind and reaching for heaven just beyond the horizon.  Distilling Dylan, Springsteen, and Petty into a twilight haze of spiritual suffering and rejuvenation, The War on Drugs elevate American guitar-rock into soul-stirring skies. 

The band's fourth album is a studio masterpiece, utterly rich and immersive.  The sonic architecture is an enduring testament to Adam Granduciel's painstaking attention to detail and his own musical wizardry.  He played most of the instruments in the studio, and as always, he was invested in the feel and tone of the record, emphasizing warmth, space, and clarity in the mix.  It sounds absolutely fantastic, an audiophile's daydream.

The recording advantage Granduciel has over his influences or peers is this simple fact: none of them can play the guitar like him.  Shimmering, dexterous, anthemic, and spiritual, he uses negative space as another substance, revealing striking contours in between his notes, allowing for the possibility that a simple chord change can shift the entire direction of a song.

Ahistorical and apolitical, A Deeper Understanding has little concern for some wider contextual narrative.  It is all about the experience between artist and listener, building an inner world of shared emotions, aiming for resonance that is both deeply personal and widely universal.  Lyrically, the imagery is threadbare and open-ended enough to allow for listeners to fill in the blanks with whatever drama they are bringing with them.  Heartache and hope are welcome here.

The sequencing is sublime and the variation is inspired.  There are rhythmic, drum heavy joints; ripping guitar epics; swelling old-school arena rockers; wobbly keyboard confessionals; and meandering guitar and synth revelations.  The songs gather up the mist and work patient, nostalgic wonders that eventually break through the cloud cover.  Almost every track on the album was my favorite song at one time or another.  Their versatility in mood and atmosphere is uncommon--they were companions in early morning hours, gym sessions, traffic jams, afternoon chills, and late-night drives.  Generous and cathartic, these songs can go anywhere.

While Lost in the Dream was easily one of the best records of the past decade, A Deeper Understanding feels like a logical conclusion to the band's glorious vein of Americana.  Sweeping and triumphant, this was the best album of 2017, and it never felt in doubt, especially after seeing Granduciel play live in October, shredding on his red 1966 Gibson Firebird, uplifting an entire room seeking communal magic.