A Deeper Understanding is The War on Drugs’ first album on the major label Atlantic Records, and in my opinion, their most affecting record yet. And by “their,” I mean “his.” A Deeper Understanding is very much the vision of frontman Adam Granduciel. By producing and engineering the album, writing all of the music and lyrics, and tracking more than half of the instruments, he’s gone in the direction of another solo indie rocker, Bon Iver (the guy who recorded an album alone in the woods).
The music is expansive and enveloping; “Thinking of a Place,” the first single released from the album, clocks in at just over eleven minutes and is the sonic form of embarking on your first solo adventure. I featured the album’s second track, “Pain” on The Slumber Party a couple of weeks ago and realized the album’s namesake is in the lyrics, “Pull me close and let me hold you in. Give me the deeper understanding of who I am.” Listen to this album if you enjoy lush guitar solos, bass-led buildups, and layers on layers of guitar tones to daydream through.
The War on Drugs that I know and love is Kurt Vile and Adam Granduciel’s collaboration Wagonwheel Blues from 2008. It’s the perfect road-trip music: tangled and noisy, but still catchy as heck, with iconic songs like “Taking the Farm,” and “Buenos Aires Beach.” There is an extra attention to craft in A Deeper Understanding; the production is much more clean and crisp. This album is all about tuning into the intricacies between gliding layers of keyboards, slide guitar, and losing yourself in the rooms of Granduciel’s  studio-polished mind palace.
The subject matter of songs in A Deeper Understanding revolves around loneliness, alienation, and private suffering, but the music feels like a big welcoming hug. Granduciel is unable to identify the source of his pain and the path of redemption, and ultimately, the album doesn’t arrive at any conclusions to ever-present questions of self. However, he does conclude that through writing and arranging every perfect detail in the studio is part of his journey. His work finds meaning in the totality of the soundscapes that he created.