The War On Drugs Announce New Album, ‘I Don’t Live Here Anymore’
The War On Drugs today announce I Don’t Live Here Anymore, their first studio album in four years, out 29 October via Atlantic Records, and a 2022 North American and European tour. In conjunction with today’s announcement, they present its first song and video, Living Proof.
Over the last 15 years, The War on Drugs have steadily emerged as one of this century’s great rock and roll synthesists, removing the gaps between the underground and the mainstream, between the obtuse and the anthemic, making records that wrestle a fractured past into a unified and engrossing present. The War On Drugs have never done that as well as they do with their fifth studio album, I Don’t Live Here Anymore, an uncommon rock album about one of our most common but daunting processes—resilience in the face of despair.
Just a month after The War On Drugs’ A Deeper Understanding received the 2018 Grammy for Best Rock Album, the core of bandleader Adam Granduciel, bassist Dave Hartley, and multi-instrumentalist Anthony LaMarca retreated to upstate New York to jam and cut new demos, working outside of the predetermined roles each member plays in the live setting. These sessions proved highly productive, turning out early versions of some of the most immediate songs on I Don’t Live Here Anymore.
It was the start of a dozen-plus session odyssey that spanned three years and seven studios, including some of rock’s greatest sonic workshops like Electric Lady in New York and Los Angeles’ Sound City. Granduciel and trusted co-producer/engineer Shawn Everett spent untold hours peeling back every piece of these songs and rebuilding them.
One of the most memorable sessions occurred in May 2019 at Electro-Vox, in which the band’s entire line-up — rounded out by keyboardist Robbie Bennett, drummer Charlie Hall, and saxophonist Jon Natchez — convened to record the affecting album opener Living Proof. Typically, Granduciel assembles The War On Drugs records from reams of overdubs, like a kind of rock ‘n’ roll jigsaw puzzle.
But for Living Proof, the track came together in real time, as the musicians drew on their chemistry as a live unit to summon some extemporaneous magic. The immediacy of the performance was appropriate for one of the most personal songs Granduciel has ever written.
The Living Proof video, directed by filmmaker Emmett Malloy, and shot on 16mm, captures Granduciel at the historic Panoramic studio in Stinson Beach, California.
The War On Drugs’ particular combination of intricacy and imagination animates the 10 songs of I Don’t Live Here Anymore, buttressing the feelings of Granduciel’s personal odyssey. It’s an expression of rock ’n’ roll’s power to translate our own experience into songs we can share and words that direct our gaze toward the possibility of what is to come.
The War On Drugs’ 2022 tour takes the band to some of the largest venues they’ve ever played, including their first headlining show at Madison Square Garden, as well as Los Angeles’ Shrine Auditorium and the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. The tour reaches the UK in April 2022 for a handful of dates including a performance at London’s O2 Arena and the First Direct Arena in Leeds. The full itinerary can be found on the band’s website. Tickets are on sale here on Friday, July 23rd at 10am local time.
The War On Drugs play the following UK and Ireland live shows:
Monday 11 April 2022 – Birmingham – O2 Academy
Tuesday 12 April 2022 – London – The O2 Arena
Thursday 14 April 2022 – Dublin – 3 Arena
Saturday 16 April 2022 – Leeds – First Direct Arena
Monday 18 April 2022 – Edinburgh – Corn Exchange.
Pre-order I Don’t Live Here Anymore here.