Wagonwheel Blues

The members of Philadelphia-based indie rock five-piece the War on Drugs have clearly spent as much time listening to Sonic Youth and Spiritualized as they have to Bob Dylan. The marriage between a lyrics-and-melody-centered classic-rock approach and waves of fuzzy guitar onslaught jumps out on the band's 2008 debut, WAGONWHEEL BLUES. Not only are the War on Drugs convincing in both modes, but WAGONWHEEL BLUES comes off as a new synthesis of these influences. With heady shoegaze coexisting peacefully with a singer-songwriter sensibility, the first album by the War on Drugs offers something familiar and fresh at once.