The War On Drugs Return With "Who's That," Their First New Studio Recording Since 2022
The War On Drugs are back. "Who's That" arrived today — the band's first new studio recording since 2022, and the first real signal from the album Adam Granduciel said earlier this year was almost finished.
Granduciel wrote and produced it himself at his Burbank studio compound. Anthony LaMarca plays drums, Dave Hartley plays bass, and everything else — layers of electric guitar, banks of keyboards — is Granduciel. It opens on a steady pulse and keeps widening across five minutes into the kind of slow-swelling heartland sprawl the band has spent two decades perfecting.
The words push back against the lift. Granduciel spends the verses turning over anxiety, self-doubt and the feeling of a life getting away from him, then names his depression outright in the refrain.
It came together fast — written, he says, "in 10 minutes somewhere between first coffee and school drop off" — and he describes the song as being about trying to love yourself in spite of the things you can't control.
Max Flick directed the accompanying video, which follows Granduciel on a surreal late-night walk through the streets of Burbank.
The band heads out on a US run later this month, starting September 18 in Wilmington and hitting both weekends of Austin City Limits. Since 2021's I Don't Live Here Anymore they've released the live album Live Drugs Again, and Granduciel co-produced and performed across Sam Fender's Mercury Prize-winning People Watching.
The War On Drugs — 2026 US dates
- Sep 18 — Wilmington, DE @ The Queen
- Sep 19 — Asbury Park, NJ @ Sea.Hear.Now
- Sep 21 — Asheville, NC @ Asheville Yards
- Sep 23 — Birmingham, AL @ Avondale Brewing Company
- Sep 24 — Louisville, KY @ Bourbon & Beyond
- Oct 1 — Salt Lake City, UT @ Twilight Concert Series
- Oct 2 — Las Vegas, NV @ Pearl Concert Theater at Palms Casino Resort
- Oct 4 — Austin, TX @ Austin City Limits
- Oct 11 — Austin, TX @ Austin City Limits
Listen to "Who's That" and watch the video below.