SOTD #126 // The War On Drugs: ‘Comin’ Through’

There’s a scene during the 2002 Wilco documentary I Am Trying To Break Your Heart which shows the bands late guitarist and producer Jay Bennett attempt to disect Wilco’s approach to the recording process of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot: “a lot of the time when you’re playing, if you don’t have any sonic landscape behind you, everything just turns into a folk song”. A record of epic proportions, whilst YHF saw Wilco finally free themselves from their alt. country shackles, it was the “sonic landscapes” that really set it apart from being just another folk record. Recording take after take after countless take of the same song, played a little differently each time then fucking it up a little more by adding in tape loops, de-tuned guitars, the kitchen sink – Jay Bennett may have been a touch ott at face value, but one can’t deny his incredible production techinques that created one of the most defining records of the early millenium.

At face value, The War On Drugs appear to be just another folk-rock outfit that flirts with sonic experimentation. But if you lift the hood on their debut album – 2008′s flawless Wagonwheel Blues – you’ll discover a record that is so deep with texture, a thousand listens would still reveal new twists and turns. Like Wilco, The War On Drugs will record the same song over and over again, and then, like a group of audiophiliac butchers, they’ll hack it apart – peeling away skin to reveal its fleshy core.

‘Comin’ Through’ is the first taster from TWoD’s forthcoming Future Weather EP – out via Secretly Canadian on 28 October (in the States, UK release date TBC) – and it’s a quietly triumphant return. A gentle strummer of a song, the Dylan-esque rasp of Adam Granduciel ever present – a plethora of guitars and atmosphere grace the easy-going nature of the song. Perhaps on first listen ‘Comin’ Through’ is less sonically adventurous than previous material (perhaps down to the departure of Wagonwheel Blues producer Kurt Vile), the fun actually lies in repeated listens – each time you reach for the play button a new characteristic will reveal itself. Absolutely essential stuff.

The War On Drugs: ‘Comin’ Through’