War On Drugs, The Vinyl Records
Mixing the grand-scale guitar attack of Sonic Youth and My Bloody Valentine with a melodic sense and lyrical perspective that recall Bob Dylan roaring down Highway 61, Philadelphia's the War on Drugs slowly grew from indie favourites to a hit with larger, more mainstream audiences. The band's moody but straightforward guitar rock echoed some of the most captivating elements of Tom Petty, Dire Straits, and several phases of Dylan's journey, placing them more and more in line as torchbearers of the American roots rock sound on albums like 2017's Grammy-winning A Deeper Understanding and 2021's I Don't Live Here Anymore.