The War On Drugs – Lost In The Dream was easily our’s and many others LP of 2014. And despite three years having elapsed since its release we still haven’t grown tired of its woozy road trip swagger. Trust us when we say that in a time when the long player is loosing currency and the playlist is tipped for global domination this is one band and one album that emphatically bucked prevailing trends. But can they do it again? Does their latest single The War On Drugs – Holding On, suggest they can go where so few bands have gone before…
![The War On Drugs - Holding On [ New Music ]](https://weareblahblahblah.com/wp-content/uploads/the-war-on-drugs-holding-on.jpg)
As we all know the music industry is littered with bands and performers who promised much but never quite full-filled their eagerly anticipated potential. So often a great moment is followed up with the movie equivalent to the Matrix 2 & 3, or George Lucas’s ill-fated Star Wars prequels. To become great – Bowie, Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Queen, Nirvana, Prince, Michael Jackson and Daft Punk to name a few, you have to somehow lay down a marker ‘Lost In The Dream‘ and then somehow eclipse your own impossibly high standard. Kinda like summiting Mount Everest one year and then doing it again the following year whilst blindfolded and wearing flip-flops. Impossible!
So how do you do it? Well if we knew the answer to that we’d probably be doing something slightly more lucrative than writing an indie music blog. The answer to that question is essentially pie in the sky, and all we can do is listen to the music and see what happens…
The War On Drugs – Holding On is not a dramatic David Bowie attention grabbing makeover or indeed a Beatles Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. Ultimately it is more of the same. Reverb, Chorus, Driving drums and hopeful yet melancholic vocals all coming together in what we’ve come to know as that signature War On Drugs sound. It works, we like it and we’re looking forward to the next LP. That said ‘Holding On‘ and previous single ‘Thinking Of A Place‘ don’t quite match the heights of ‘Under Pressure‘, ‘Red Eyes‘ or an ‘Ocean Between the Waves‘ and therefore if indisputable greatness is calling, then the next record may need a few surprises.
Rating 3.7/5.0