The War on Drugs Announce I Don’t Live Here Anymore, Their First New Album in 4 Years

The War on Drugs are back with another one of Paste’s most-anticipated 2021 albums, announcing that their fifth studio LP I Don’t Live Here Anymore will be released Oct. 29 on Atlantic Records. The announcement is accompanied by the video for lead single and opening track “Living Proof,” as well as a 2022 tour of North America and Europe in support of the band’s new record.

I Don’t Live Here Anymore is The War on Drugs’ long-awaited follow-up to 2017’s Grammy-winning A Deeper Understanding, one of Paste’s favorite albums of that year. The band—bandleader Adam Granduciel, bassist Dave Hartley, multi-instrumentalist Anthony LaMarca, keyboardist Robbie Bennett, drummer Charlie Hall and saxophonist Jon Natchez—recorded their new album with co-producer/engineer Shawn Everett across three years and seven studios, including New York’s Electric Lady and Los Angeles’ Sound City. They recorded “Living Proof” at Electro-Vox in L.A. in May 2019, drawing on their full-band energy (as opposed to Granduciel meticulously piecing the song together, per usual) for a more immediate sound.

“Living Proof” leads with acoustic guitar and gleaming keys, with Granduciel delivering his stream-of-consciousness lyrics with a poignance befitting some of his most personal songwriting to date—“I’m always changing,” he repeats, the song’s only constant as he moves from memory to expectation and back again. The song is a slow burn that doesn’t muster The War on Drugs’ typical guitar-driven energy until late in the game: “But I’m rising / And I’m damaged / Oh, rising,” he sings at its peak, evoking what a press release says is the album’s central concept: “resilience in the face of despair.” Granduciel stars in the accompanying video, directed by filmmaker Emmett Malloy (Vampire Weekend, Jack White), shot on 16mm at the historic Panoramic studio in Stinson Beach, California.

The War On Drugs’ 2022 tour will feature some of the band’s biggest stages yet, including their first-ever headlining show at Madison Square Garden, a huge bellwether for any act. They’ll also play Los Angeles’ Shrine Auditorium, the Bill Graham Civic Center in San Francisco, the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, a two-night stand at the Chicago Theatre, Philadelphia’s Metropolitan, the House of Blues in Boston and many more. Tickets go on sale Friday, July 23 at 10 a.m. local time.

Watch the “Living Proof” video (and revisit The War on Drugs’ 2010 Daytrotter session) below, and keep scrolling for their tour dates, as well as the details of I Don’t Live Here Anymore. You can preorder the record right here.