Posted in Album Reviews

The War On Drugs – I Don’t Live Here Anymore (2021)

Posted on by Michael
I Don’t Live Here Anymore (Vinyl)

Adam Granduciel spent 3 years working on The War On Drugs’ fifth LP released in October of 2021, I Don’t Live Here Anymore.  Working with co-producer Shawn Everett, Granduciel logged many miles between New York and LA with various sessions taking place in both cities. The album mixes synths with the anthemic 80s rock of Springsteen and Petty. “Harmonia’s Dream” pushes the synths up in the mix where the “summer comes and rain gets in”. Granduciel sings “And I need your kiss/like I’m dressed in morning mist” on the energetic “Wasted”.

Perhaps capturing the feeling of bouncing between cities, the title track sings “I don’t live here anymore/but I got no place to go”. Members of the band Lucious sing on the chorus and lift the track into one of the highlights. Leaving the lushness of other tracks, first single “Living Proof” is a straightforward track with mostly just guitar and piano that adds a more naked vulnerability. 

On “Change”, Granduciel wonders if he was “maybe born on the wrong day”.  It’s not just the lyric itself but the way the words hang there while the music continues. There are a few dips on I Don’t Live Here Anymore, and a bit too much gloss in places where a more minimal sound would have been welcomed. What is transparent, is the overall longing and searching in the lyrics that makes the album a place where even the adults are still trying to figure things out.

8/10

Posted in Album Reviews

Courtney Barnett – Things Take Time, Take Time (2021)

Posted on by Michael
Things Take Time, Take Time (Light Blue Cassette) (Audio Cassette)

The third full length album released by Melbourne’s Courney Barnett last November was an intimate affair. Working with just Stella Mozgawa from the band Warpaint, the two played all the instruments plus co-produced. In typical Barnett style, first single “Rae Street” makes the mundane of observing life through a window sound interesting all while riding a mid tempo groove. “Sunfair Sundown” catches the same trick, a really catchy track that adds a chiming guitar while she tells another, “I don’t want you to be alone”.

“Before You Gotta Go” is a sweet song about leaving on a good note after breaking up. “Take It Day By Day” has a solid bass sound on a song about keeping at it with the added motivation of adding handclaps. The album ends on a slower note where Barnett sings “but I’m the same kid, always laughing”. On that track and others, Barnett wrings a lot of emotion out of her deadpan singing voice.

Some of the songs on Things Take Time, Take Time could use a bit more polish and at just 34 minutes, this feels more like a stop gap EP rather than a full length.  However, what Courtney Barnett and Stella Mozgawa have created is a brisk batch of catchy songs that can sound tossed off and great at the same time.

7.5/10