Slave Ambient is a refined version of The War On Drugs’ brand of throwback rock melded with bluesy touches to create an immediately likable album that flows smoothly from one song to the next. Slave Ambient

The War On Drugs

Secretly Canadian

Rocks like: an easy-listening Pavement

Grade: B-

Slave Ambient is a refined version of The War On Drugs’ brand of throwback rock melded with bluesy touches to create an immediately likable album that flows smoothly from one song to the next.

The album kicks off slowly and gently with “Best Night” — the song begins with light, fast percussion, progresses with quietly driving guitars and finally adds lead singer Adam Granduciel’s gravelly, Dylan-esque vocals. Its intricacy keeps the track from being boring and eases in the listener with its subdued tones.

Throughout the album, the band maintains its strong guitar, with a noticeable difference between the rock songs and the more blues-inspired ones. A fondness for progressive beginnings and drawn-out, decrescendo endings tends to keep the songs from crashing into one another disharmoniously and Granduciel’s unhurried vocals act as a continuing thread throughout the album, but there are still distinct changes between songs.

“I Was There” has a meandering piano in the background, punctuated by the cries of an electric guitar and a harmonica. The slow pace gives Granduciel’s voice a whiny, molasses quality that sometimes comes across as mumbled but generally marries well with the tones of the song. But “Your Love Is Calling My Name,” which comes immediately afterward,  shifts to faster, more drum-driven rock with a fortunately slow start to keep from clashing with the previous song, and the singing ties them together.

The band is fond of long stretches of hypnotizing instrumentation. Sometimes this works out splendidly, as in “The Animator.”

“The Animator” is 2:17 minutes of tranquil synthesizer and horns before melding seamlessly into the more exciting “Come to the City.” It’s a mesmerizing track that acts as a prelude, and it falls into the band’s dreamy aesthetics.

But other times, the instrumentation can drag on.

“City Reprise” is a 3:06 minute instrumental jam that crescendoes into repetitive drumbeats and organ chords that can get to be a bit much. The 3:09 minute “Original Slave” is only slightly better. They might mesh well with the entire album, but they can become monotonous.

It’s a strong musical complexity coupled with smartly mixed songs that make Slave Ambient an enjoyable and listenable album.

The War On Drugs will play tonight at Club Cafe.