Philadelphia’s fav alternative rock ensemble, The War on Drugs re-do their most recent offering “I Don’t Live Here Anymore” as a box set.
After having performed their first massive hometown show since before the pandemic with its Freedom Mortgage Pavilion show on September 16, Philly’s The War on Drugs – easily one of this city’s most beloved alterna-rock exports to the mainstream world what with 2017’s A Deeper Understanding becoming a Grammy winner for Best Rock Album – is looking for an encore. Come this weekend, guitarist, lyricist and singer Adam Granduciel, drummer Charlie Hall and Co. will re-issue its newest album, I Don’t Live Here Anymore as a new Deluxe Edition box set in Dolby Atmios sound featuring previously unreleased songs recorded for the 2021-recorded album such as “Oceans of Darkness” and “Slow Ghost”.
Charlie Hall told me recently that, after A Deeper Understanding, the conversations around making its next album (I Don’t Live Here Anymore) were often more about “finding our way as we went along,” as they were pointed or direct. “Things changed a hundred times,” said Hall. “We started off thinking the songs were one way, and threw all of our paint on one wall, only to re-up, scratch the surface and throw more paint, and see what was underneath all of this to begin with. Our end goal wasn’t at all where we started.”
If The War on Drugs left off fully realized tracks such as “Oceans of Darkness” and “Slow Ghost” – the former a song they debuted as far back as autumn 2020 on” on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon with fellow Philadelphians The Roots behind them – they must have been throwing paint and thinking hard.
Here’s a new “Oceans of Darkness” visualizer fresh from YouTube…
Of that “Oceans” song, Adam Granduciel comments in the new box set press legend that, “One night in LA, while we were many months into working on what would be I Don’t Live Here Anymore, Dave [Hartley] uncovered a stripped=down demo in my dropbox called ‘Oceans of Darkness,’ and insisted we try recording it. We were frustrated and exhausted at the time, but we set up in a circle after dinner and worked it out as the tape was rolling. It’s rare that a song of ours could feel this complete after only a few takes, but it had all the desperation and urgency that we had been looking for. Ultimately, I didn’t include it on the record because I couldn’t find a home for it among the other songs. We’re happy we can share it with you now.”
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