As a founding member of American psychedelic-rock visionaries The War on Drugs, Dave Hartley has expanded his playing in lockstep with the band’s ever-growing sonic ambitions. From their lo-fi basement origins to the massive anthems on their 5th album, A Deeper Understanding, Hartley‘s bass lines have always seamlessly locked with the grooves and kept the rhythmic train rolling down the tracks. His overdriven, syncopated finger-work on “Holding On” is just one highlight from the new album that also features nuanced fretless playing (“Thinking of a Place”, “Knocked Down”) and front-and-center melodic plectrum work (“Clean Living”).
Though the pronounced low-end is a recent development, the parts have been there all along: check out the John McVie-inspired groove on Future Weather deep-cut “Comin’ Through”, the tucked-in but playful bass work on Wagonwheel Bluesopener “Arms Like Boulders”, or the slinky fretless line on Lost in the Dream’s breakthrough-single “Red Eyes”.
A Deeper Understanding will be released on August 25th, 2017.