I remember seeing The War On Drugs open for somebody in a club. (TV On the Radio? Hold Steady?) I remember them being a little too loud and sloppy. But they are on Secretly Canadian (not generally the home for loud and sloppy). So, I'm picking this album to listen to instead of Jeff Bridges'.And I can declare through even just the second song that it is neither loud nor sloppy. Maybe it was the loss of Kurt Vile that mellowed them out. (Or maybe I'm just remembering wrong) But Adam et. al. keep a sunny, mellow upbeat folk rock feel.
"Brothers" which begs the wonderment of "where my friends are going? Wondering why they didn't take me." It's all vaguely Dylanesque, especially the vocals. I get the feeling that Adam's favorite song ever is "Lay Lady Lay". The band itself is a little more modern. Without much multi-instrumentation to use, they otherwise sound like a stripped down R.E.M. at times. Wilco at others. And while I can't place the song, I feel like "I Was There" sounds exactly like some '70s AM Radio Gold track.
Having said all that, right about halfway is about the time Drugs turns the tables and channels their inner Arcade Fire. And then their inner U2.And another that's a little new wave-y. They've got the rock in them too. And I'm okay with eclecticism of the album. Like I said, it's not as sloppy as another band might do with this much diverse material. The only part that slighted me at all was this "Ambient" part of the title. There does seem to be some riding out on waves of sound a good minute or two after each song should have been completed. It may be someone's cup of tea, but that was a limiting factor for this listener. (3 of 5 stars)
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