The War on Drugs Release Two New Songs: Listen

The War on Drugs have released two new songs as part of a new box set of I Don’t Live Here Anymore. “Oceans of Darkness” and “Slow Ghost” are both out now, ahead the deluxe album’s release this Friday, via Atlantic.

Back in 2020, the band debuted an early version of “Oceans of Darkness” on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, where they performed remotely via separate livestreams during the early days of the pandemic. In a statement about the studio version of the song, frontperson Adam Granduciel said:

One night in LA, while we were many months into working on what would be I Don’t Live Here Anymore, Dave [Hartley] uncovered a stripped-down demo in my Dropbox called ‘Oceans of Darkness,’ and insisted we tried recording it. We were frustrated and exhausted at the time, but we set up in a circle after dinner and worked it out as the tape was rolling. It’s rare that a song of ours could feel this complete after only a few takes, but it had all the desperation and urgency that we had been looking for. Ultimately I didn’t include it on the record because I couldn’t find a home for it among the other songs. We’re happy we can share it with you now.

I Don’t Live Here Anymore (Deluxe Edition) arrives in the midst of the band’s North American tour, which continues through October. The album will be available as a limited-edition 2xLP box set, which includes the album on 180-gram vinyl, a 7″ vinyl single of the two new songs, a copy of the album on cassette, and more.

Read Pitchfork’s 2021 interview “The War on Drugs Find Lightness on the Edge of Town.”