Longtime fans of The War On Drugs might notice something odd about their performance on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert. Namely, there’s too dang many of them. The group added three members to their lineup to give “Holding On” its late night debut, turning the chugging and synth-y Springsteen-style cut into something far prettier and more epic.
The new take on “Holding On” still sounds like the road, just in a different way from the original. The shimmering textures added by the multiple keyboard players bring to do with hazy mirages hovering above the asphalt than the persistent sound of wheels turning. Give it a watch up top.
“Holding On” is the second track we’ve heard from The War On Drugs’ upcoming album A Deeper Understanding. It follows their 4/20 freakout “Thinking Of A Place” and proves that no matter what direction this band goes on the remaining eight tracks on the album — be it psychedelic and shreddy or layered and gorgeous — it’s pretty much guaranteed to sound great.
Understanding drops on August 25 via Atlantic, after which point the band’s fans can catch them at one of their many stops in their tour of Europe and North America this fall.
