walking on a dream instrumental with hook

“Love’s the key to the things that you see / And don’t mind chasing,” Granduciel cries out halfway through “Lost in the Dream.” Hearing him like this-day-drunk on the hope of romance in the name of making certain sacrifices, against the songbird of a harmonica and an organ-is like hearing Dylan on the moon, which is exactly what Granduciel and Vile set out to be back in 2005. It’s a bit woozier than their other cuts, the guitars are mega-dreamy and Granduciel has this Dylan-esque drawl that sometimes drawls too cheekily-but the song taps into the theme of future glory that the rest of Slave Ambient plays around with, which would get shelved for more introspective, reflective meditations on the band’s next two records. But where other Slave Ambient tracks merely pawed at the promise of the sound that would be fully realized on Lost in the Dream, “It’s Your Destiny” is a precursor to the glow of what we now consider to be The War on Drugs’ sonic aesthetic. Slave Ambient is the last War on Drugs record to feature Kurt Vile, and “It’s Your Destiny” is one of two songs he plays on-making it a perfect send-off track for the songwriter who’d go on to head The Violators and make brilliant collaborations with Courtney Barnett and John Prine.

But for now, here are The War on Drugs’ 10 best songs, ranked, to hold us over. In early 2022, many will pack themselves into various venues across the country to watch Granduciel and company resuscitate their hits of old and christen the jams of new on tour. I Don’t Live Here Anymore-the band’s first record in four years, released last week-builds on the technical precision of its predecessor, signaling a continuation of the stranglehold they currently have on rock and roll. Lost in the Dream had previously peaked at #26 on the Billboard 200 and pointed to an uptick in acclaim, which was cemented when A Deeper Understanding deservedly won a Grammy for Best Rock Album in 2018. The move brought forth a bigger budget for Granduciel to do his thing and bigger distribution numbers for a growing audience-cemented by the record’s peak at #10 on the Billboard 200. After a three-album partnership ( Wagonwheel Blues, Slave Ambient, Lost in the Dream) with esteemed indie label Secretly Canadian, the band moved to Atlantic Records ahead of 2017’s A Deeper Understanding.

Though Slave Ambient doesn’t clear the bar its successors have set, it’s still a perfect bridge album between the rawness of Wagonwheel and the honed-in surrealism of the critically revered Lost in the Dream. Slave Ambient, released a decade ago this year, is where the band officially found their footing, to the point where their 2008 debut, Wagonwheel Blues, sounds uncharacteristically industrial and unlike any other War on Drugs project.

Walking on a dream instrumental with hook