The War on Drugs uses sound as an excavation tool. The band’s leader and chief songwriter, Adam Granduciel, often points the tool inward, turning himself into an archeological dig site.
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He pours over every detail of the record, using music like a piece of technology to understand the world through meticulous crafting. The band is the ghost in that machine, and he manipulates his great band like a conductor leading an orchestra. But Granduciel is also the orchestra’s concertmaster.
The influences—Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, and Tom Petty—are obvious touchstones, but Granduciel doesn’t go to the same places most bands do when referencing their idols.
If you’ve just arrived from another planet and haven’t heard this band before, “Red Eyes” is a good place to begin. While you’re here, stick around for the rest of the album.
The Promised Land
“Red Eyes” is about faith, and it might be faith in another person, belief in a higher power, or trust that this old car will get to the next destination. Like most songs Granduciel writes, it’s a song in motion.
Come and see
Where I witness everything on my knees
Beat it down to get to my soul
Against my will
Anyone can tell it’s you coming
Baby don’t mind
Leave it on the line, leave it
Hanging on the rail
Wistful memories live underneath the Americanagaze as Granduciel focuses his despair with a wide-range photo capture of heartbreak and hope. Like Springsteen’s hard-luck characters, there’s darkness on the edge of town, and the narrator is lost.
The broken bonds of trust, the unanswered prayers, or the rusty engine breaking down again when all you want to do is get to the next place. It’s the kind of desolation Dylan sang about, but The War on Drugs builds walls of soundscapes, carrying the listener on waves of nostalgia and the desire to move on.
Come and ride away,
It’s easier to stick to the old
Surrounded by the night
Surrounded by the night, and you don’t give in
But you abuse my faith
Losing every time but I don’t know where
You’re on my side again
So ride the heat wherever it goes
I’ll be the one to care, whoo!
Granduciel’s songwriting descends from Springsteen, but he also works with the slow-zoom lens of J. Spaceman. The Boss sets the details, with characters and places, while Granduciel’s lyrics fade into the music like the haze of reverb. He’s not searching for the lines you’ve never heard before. Instead, he’s looking for a way out of empty grief.
Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space
Self-doubt and inner turmoil lingered while Granduciel obsessed over The War on Drugs’ third album, Lost in the Dream. The yearlong recording process consisted of seemingly endless phases of revision, deletion, and meticulousness. His bandmates appear on the album, but the burden of autogenic perfection is Granduciel’s.
You are all I’ve got, wait
Don’t wanna let the dark night cover my soul
Well, you can see it through the darkness coming my way
Well, we won’t get lost inside all again
The arduous process of making an album can mirror life in moments of a total loss of direction. “Red Eyes” sounds modest, but it unfolds into a complex and beautiful meditation.
You can feel Granduciel’s anxiety in “Red Eyes” as he sings, You are all I’ve got, wait. He’s pleading, and the melancholy is powerful and hopeful in its humility.
Time Out of Mind
Gearheads obsess over Granduciel’s pedalboard. If you haven’t seen the thing, check out a video of his Rig Rundown—it’s a sprawling work of mad scientist art. Similar to his writing and production, nothing remains without thought. The textures and layers are complex, but the results are simple.
Some of the most powerful moments in “Red Eyes” are the instrumental breaks. Midway through the song, there’s an extended section with pulsating synths and low woodwinds. Eventually, Granduciel’s voice punctuates the fabric like Dylan on Time Out of Mind, singing over Daniel Lanois’ Korg SDD-3000.
Lost and Found
“Red Eyes” hums along like a car in a Springsteen song. When Granduciel activates his giant pedalboard for the guitar solo, it’s cathartic, and you feel born again after all the fear and anxiety of being adrift in the dark.
Lost in the Dream is a painstakingly vivid portrait of a broken man. “Red Eyes” is the sound of Granduciel stitching himself back together. It’s utterly beautiful.
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Photo by Timothy Norris/Getty Images for The Recording Academy
