6A — Wednesday, September 6, 2017
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

ALBUM REVIEW

ATLANTIC RECORDS

The War on Drugs return with another stunner
War on Drugs make sense 
of the world on new album
War on Drugs’ latest album shows the band’s move from 
heavy reliance on influences to more natural and meaningful

Authenticity 
is 
more 

important 
than 
originality. 

Yet, we value the latter more 
and lampoon music that sounds 
obviously derivative of other 
artists. Ripping someone off 
is pathetic — something that 
can be a hefty lawsuit — but 
incorporating 
elements 
of 

other artists is the driving force 
behind 
artistic 
progression. 

Nothing 
is 
every 
purely 

authentic: The War on Drugs, a 
band that wears its influences 
on its sleeve, embraces this 
wholeheartedly. 

Especially at the beginning 

of 
careers, 
most 
great 

bands 
sound 
like 
someone 

else before they fully grow 
into 
their 
distinct 
sound. 

Radiohead initially had a pretty 
straightforward britpop style 
before OK Computer shattered 
everyone’s expectations of rock 
music. Pink Floyd emerged in 

the late ’60s as just another 
Psychedelic Rock band oozing 
with whimsicality and dripping 
with 
LSD 
before 
releasing 

prog-rock masterpieces Meddle 
and The Dark Side 
of the Moon. The 
War 
on 
Drugs 

began as one big 
love letter to Bob 
Dylan, and since 
then, everyone is 
quick to point this 
out, along with 
similarities 
to 

Bruce Springsteen 
and 
other 
’80s 
heartland 

rockers.

By now, the comparisons 

have 
grown 
old. 
Even 

though 
Adam 
Granduciel, 

the 
band’s 
frontman 
and 

creative powerhouse, doesn’t 
shy away from allowing his 
influences to shine through, no 
contemporary musician sounds 
anything like them, not even 
his past collaborator Kurt Vile. 
Granduciel’s 
combination 
of 

pulsating synths and guitar 
hooks layered with effects has 
become a unique trademark 
in contemporary music. With 
their fourth album, A Deeper 

Understanding, 
The 
War 
on 

Drugs 
has 

proven 
that 

they’re capable 
of 
producing 

authentic 
work 
without 

the 
restraint 

of 
sounding 

completely 

original.

In 
2014, 
Lost 
in 
the 

Dream 
shocked 
thousands 

and became, arguably, the 
most beloved rock album of 
the year. Granduciel takes 
listeners from the bleakest 
depths of depression and 
heartbreak 
— 
songs 
like 

“Under the Pressure” and 
“Disappearing” 
— 
to 
the 

relieving 
feeling 
after 

conquering 
your 
crushing 

anxiety — like the freeing 
melodies of “Eyes to the 
Wind” and the energetic 
optimism 
of 
“Burning.” 

Every 
emotion 
tied 
to 

heartbreak 
is 
present. 

It’s a breakup album that 
questions love and the pain 
it causes, and what it means 
to grow as a person.

A Deeper Understanding, 

a 
deceiving 
name, 
sees 

Granduciel still looking for 
answers to these questions 
in 
his 
pursuit 
of 
self 

growth. Despite a plethora 
of success following Lost in 
the Dream — signing onto 
Atlantic Records, entering 
a relationship with Krysten 
Ritter (“Jessica Jones”) and 
deserved critical acclaim — 
Granduciel is still struggling 
to resolve his own pitfalls 
and anxieties. “I’ve been 
through it / I always have 
paranoia that I would not 
last” Granduciel sings on 
the opening track “Up All 
Night,” a jittery yet upbeat 
song 
that 
progressively 

builds layer upon layer of 
drums and synths. It’s clear 
from the beginning that A 
Deeper Understanding is by 
no means a resolution album 
where 
Granduciel 
cures 

himself of the same feelings 
of loneliness evident on Lost 
in the Dream.

The band released five 

singles 
anticipating 
the 

album’s release, and with 
each one, it became clear the 
album wouldn’t disappoint. 
“Thinking of a Place,” a 
sprawling 
11-minute 
epic 

released earlier in April 
for Record Store Day, was 

A Deeper 

Understanding

The War on Drugs

Atlantic Records

It’s impossible not to fall 
in love with “Consolation”

Ford’s recent novel explores the intricacies of love in a 
challenging environment with a bittersweet, if quick, end

I don’t think I’ve ever read a 

book that had everything I was 
looking for and more until I 
read Jamie Ford’s newest novel 
“Love and Other Consolation 
Prizes.” I laughed, I cried, I 
hoped for it to never end and 
I circled some of the most 
endearing paragraphs in red 
ink so many times that I nearly 
put a tear in the page.

Ford’s 
story 

follows 
Ernest 

Young, a 12 year 
old half-Chinese 
boy entranced by 
the 1909 World’s 
Fair in Seattle. 
After surviving a 
terrifying month 
on an immigrant 
ship from Asia, 
Ernest lives as a 
charity student at a boarding 
school where the treatment is 
nearly as harsh as on the ship. 
The opportunity to attend the 
fair seems nothing short of a 
dream, until he realizes that he 
is the prize and will be raffled 
off as a servant to the highest 
bidder at the fair. Ernest is 
raffled off to the madam of a 
high class brothel where his 
life changes forever when he 
meets the precocious young 
daughter of the madam — the 
fiery scullery maid, Fahn. For 

the first time in his life, Ernest 
feels as though he has a family, 
and has found himself a real 
home. There is an immediate 
sense of comfort between the 
residents of the brothel and 
Ernest thus making him feel 
incredibly comfortable. 

Fifty years later, in the dark 

shadow of the second World’s 
Fair, Ernest struggles to bring 
his ailing wife, who is suffering 
from dementia and illness, 

back to the woman she once 
was. He constantly avoids the 
memories of his childhood and 
keeps his family secrets hidden 
from his grown up daughters.

The 
story 
jumps 
from 

Ernest’s 
tumultuous 
albeit 

adventurous 
past 
to 
his 

dragging and difficult present, 
creating 
a 
relationship 

between the two worlds, as 
Ernest’s family, and he himself, 
discover who he really is.

The 
story 
of 
Ernest’s 

childhood 
is 
interesting 

and historical, feeling just 

enough like an 
anachronism 
that 1909 should. 
The 
culture 

of 
the 
brothel, 

matched with the 
descriptions 
of 

their progressive 
and 
cultural 

outside 
world 

fits 
the 
time 

period perfectly. 

The detail included in the 
descriptions of the house and 
the lifestyle of the brothel is 
magically compelling in a way 
that makes the book impossible 
to put down.

The early 1900s juxtaposes 

with the early 1960s in the most 
wonderful way, making for a 
comfortable switch between 
time periods. It is between 
these two time periods that 
the reader can understand 
Ernest as not just a character 
in a book, but as the imaginary 
manifestation of real struggles 
and issues that many people 
can relate to.

The story is told in prose 

that spends generous time 
describing the setting and 
characters, making both seem 
incredibly real. The reader 
falls just as in love with the 
two strong female characters 
as Ernest does, is incredibly 
entranced by the bossy Madam 
and her swirl of anxiety and 
depression 
and 
becomes 

charmed by the brothel’s kind 
and witty piano player. There 
is something endearing about 
being placed in the heart 
of Ernest’s struggle in the 
beginning of the story, sailing 
to America right beside him 
and falling in love right when 
he does.

The 
novel 
is 
truly 
an 

exceptional piece of fiction. 
It’s a family story that largely 
surrounds the nature of love; 
however, it is also dangerous, 
promiscuous, 
sweet, 
naive 

and intelligent. All of these 
things at once make for an 
intoxicating 
yet 
pleasant 

literary cocktail.

My only wish was that it was 

longer. I could have lingered in 

the streets of Seattle below a 
large looming Ferris Wheel, in 
the kitchen with Fahn or in a 
restaurant booth with Ernest’s 
wife for much longer than I did 

in the pages I held in my hands.

Ultimately, it inspired me to 

read more of Ford’s work and to 
invest in more Asian-American 
literature about the lives of 
Asian Americans. I only hope 
people gravitate toward this 
paperback in the future, and 
fall in love with it as quickly as 
I did.

“Love and Other 

Consolation 

Prizes”

Jamie Ford

September 12th, 

2017

BOOK REVIEW

WILL STEWART

Daily Arts Writer

It’s a family 

story that largely 

surrounds the 
nature of love; 
however, it is 

also dangerous, 
promiscuous, 

sweet, naive and 

intelligent

ELI RALLO

Daily Arts Writer

the first glimpse to see how 
Granduciel 
had 
progressed 

over the three years since Lost 
in the Dream. The band’s best 
qualities — crackling guitar 
solos, heavy synths and lyrics 
evoking a sense of longing — 
were all in top form. Although 
dense and long, “Thinking of a 
Place” is one of the band’s most 
conventional rock songs with 
one of the best guitar solos 
in recent memory. The song 
embodies the imagery of a self 
reflective road trip through 
the 
American 
countryside 

(truth be told, most of their 
music embodies this cliché).

The War on Drugs packs the 

most weight into “Strangest 
Thing,” 
which 
became 
an 

instant classic among their 
stacked 
catalog. 
The 
song 

breaks 
down 
halfway 
into 

an explosion of synths and a 
guitar solo, each instrument 
complementing 
the 
other 

as if they’re part of a world 
class 
symphony. 
Following 

this is “Knocked Down,” a 
ballad, rare for the band, that 
favors piano over guitar. It’s 
their 
most 
stripped 
down 

and 
resembles 
“Suffering,” 

though it ultimately fails to 
dethrone its Lost in the Dream 
counterpart.

Unlike 
past 
records, 
A 

Deeper Understanding departs 

from a more atmospheric sound 
in favor of more conventional 
rock 
qualities. 
The 
closest 

Granduciel gets to this ambient 
style is on the closing track, 
“You Don’t Have to Go.” But 
even here, its light, ethereal 

feeling is achieved without 
sacrificing a straightforward 
structure, using harmonicas 
and real instruments to create 
such a lush sound. Its nearly 
seven minute length feels much 
shorter — at no point do their 
songs drag and feel longer than 
a more traditional three-and-a-

half minute pop song.

The closest they get to 

producing another “Red Eyes,” 
the most successful single from 
Lost in the Dream, is “Holding 
On.” It opens with a fast paced 
synth hook, then leads into 
piercing guitars. Every aspect 
about it, from the vocals to 
the catchy Springsteen-esque 
chimes, makes for an accessible 
jam that, if maybe a minute or 
two shorter, could very well be 
a smash hit. But it’s “Nothing to 
Find,” an exhilarating heater 
of a song, that sticks out as the 
most vibrant. Essentially, this 
is the song a dad would play to 
pump up his son before a Little 
League baseball game.

A 
Deeper 
Understanding 

isn’t necessarily a better album 
than Lost in the Dream, but it 
doesn’t have to be. It’s one more 
milestone for Granduciel in his 
attempt to make meaning of 
the world around him. He has 
managed to gain popularity 
making music that is by no 
means the most popular style 
of today, a testament to his 
masterful 
musicianship. 
In 

times of joy and times of misery, 
The War on Drugs once again 
delivers an album to cope with 
the emotions we can’t ignore, 
the feelings of falling in and out 
of love and the harrowing self-
doubt we face.

The reader falls 

just as in love with 

the two strong 

female characters 

as Ernest does, 
and is incredibly 
entranced by the 

bossy Madam 
and her swirl 
of anxiety and 

depression

A Deeper 

Understanding 

isn’t necessarily a 
better album than 
Lost in the Dream, 
but it doesn’t have 

to be

PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE

Jamie Ford, the author of “Love and 
Other Consolation Prizes”

Arts

