See War on Drugs Debut New Song ‘Ocean of Darkness’ on ‘Fallon’

The War on Drugs debuted a new song titled “Ocean of Darkness” during the band’s virtual performance Friday on The Tonight Show.

Frontman Adam Granduciel and company recently hinted that the War on Drugs were at work on a follow-up to 2017’s A Deeper Understanding, and the first evidence of that new music came with the arrival of the “unreleased” song, as Jimmy Fallon called the track.

“You’re just a poor boy/Your blood rushes through me/Alone in the great divide/To love and understanding,” Granduciel sings on the lively new track, which each band member performed isolated from one another.

“Once I was eight years old/I’d stare at the ceiling/Get lost in a memory/Remember the feeling/I was tired of waiting/Feeling misunderstood/And now I’m fading away into these oceans of darkness/Come pulling me back for good.”

While “Ocean of Darkness” hints at a future studio album, the War on Drugs will next release Live Drugs, a live album featuring tracks pulled from over 40 hard drives of recorded at the band’s shows from across the years. Live Drugs, out November 20th, includes cuts from the band’s four studio albums plus a cover of Warren Zevon’s “Accidentally Like a Martyr.”

“As a band leader, I always want to know where a song can go,” Granduciel said in a statement. “Even though we’ve recorded it, mastered it, put it out, and been touring on it, it doesn’t mean that we just have to do it the same way forever… It feels like it’s kind of a reset, to be able to put something out that’s a really good interpretation of the way we interpret our music live. Even though this recording is from a year of tours, this is really how these six guys evolved as a band from 2014 to 2019.”

Granduciel also recently remixed the Rolling Stones’ “Scarlet” for the band’s Goats Head Soup reissue.