The War On Drugs

Koko, Camden  | 27 May

The War On Drugs waste no time getting their set underway, weaving into the opening bars of ‘An Ocean Between The Waves’ before the venue’s DJ has even had a chance to fade out the house music. It’s the musical equivalent to starting a piece of writing without any semblance of an introduction.

The Pennsylvania outfit have undoubtedly made their long-awaited breakthrough this year, with recent album Lost In The Dream garnering rave reviews across the board. It’s 2014’s answer to Kurt Vile’s much-celebrated Wakin On A Pretty Daze the year prior, and that’s no surprise – Vile was previously a member of tonight’s headline performers before departing in order to concentrate on his solo career. It seems he’s now paved the way for their likeminded emergence.

Adam Granduciel stands atop Koko’s stage like a carbon copy of his former co-study: long, straggly hair, plaid shirt, and denim jacket. He is the focus tonight, with his five cohorts assembled in a U shape behind him with pianos and guitars, as he jams his way through an endless ensemble of voracious, bluesy solos and entrancing chords. Special mention must go to the moustachioed Charlie Hall, a drummer whose careful dynamics make even the most limited range rhythm tracks sound spectral.

With Red Eyes, the audience is set alight, and it’s these most melodic cuts from Lost In The Dream that shine in a set largely built around slow-burning, psychedelic folk and Springsteen-esque Americana. Under The Pressure is a piano ballad that floats like heaven, and later a cover of John Lennon’s Mind Games proves one of the most invigorating inclusions to an amorphous show.

It’s something of a shame that such a lush sound is played for so long tonight, though. Two hours and 27 guitar solos down the line, and a handful of people start to leave before the band’s three-track encore. But while it’s true that this set may have lost some steam along the way, for a while tonight, at least, we were all lost in the dream.

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Words: James Balmont