''I Don't Live Here Anymore'' is the fifth studio album by American

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent reco ...

band The War on Drugs. It was released on October 29, 2021, through

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...

. The album received widespread acclaim, with one of its songs, "Harmonia's Dream", receiving a nomination for

Best Rock Song The Grammy Award for Best Rock Song is an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality songs in the rock music genre. Honors in several ...

at the

65th Annual Grammy Awards The 65th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony was held at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on February 5, 2023. It recognized the best recordings, compositions, and artists of the eligibility year – October 1, 2021 to September 30, 2022 – as de ...

Recording

''I Don't Live Here Anymore'' was recorded at seven different studios over the course of three years. The album was co-produced by frontman

Adam Granduciel Adam Granofsky (born February 15, 1979), better known under his stage name Adam Granduciel, is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter and record producer. He is the frontman and primary songwriter of the indie rock band the War on Drugs, wit ...

and engineer

Shawn Everett Shawn Everett (born July 6, 1982) is a Canadian music engineer and producer best known for his work with Alabama Shakes, Kacey Musgraves, The War on Drugs, The Killers, and Julian Casablancas. Everett has won six Grammy Awards. Early life Ev ...

. Granduciel moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

at the end of 2014, but spent most of 2018 living in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. In March 2018, while still on tour in support of the band's fourth album ''

A Deeper Understanding ''A Deeper Understanding'' is the fourth studio album by American indie rock band The War on Drugs. It was released on August 25, 2017 through Atlantic Records. The album was mixed by engineer Shawn Everett. The album won Best Rock Album at t ...

'' (2017), Granduciel began work on the album at Outlier Inn studio in Upstate New York. He spent a week there demoing songs with bassist Dave Hartley and multi-instrumentalist Anthony LaMarca. In between touring, Granduciel also spent time writing and recording at Studio G in Brooklyn. At the end of 2018, the band spent a week recording at

Electric Lady Studios Electric Lady Studios is a recording studio in Greenwich Village, New York City. It was commissioned by rock musician Jimi Hendrix in 1968 and designed by architect John Storyk and audio engineer Eddie Kramer. It was completed by 1970. Hendrix ...

in downtown Manhattan. Granduciel spent 2019 in Los Angeles, and recorded with band at

Electro-Vox Recording Studios Electro-Vox Recording Studios (or simply Vox) is a recording studio formerly in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, United States. It was historically located on Melrose Avenue across from the Paramount Pictures gate. In 2009 it was purchased by ...

in May 2019. Granduciel and Everett separated in March 2020 as a result of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. They reunited in October 2020 at

Sound City Studios Sound City Studios is a recording studio in Los Angeles, California, United States, known as one of the most successful in popular music. The complex opened in 1969 in the Van Nuys neighborhood of Los Angeles. The facility had previously been a p ...

, where they recorded for three weeks. Recording also took place at

Sunset Sound Recorders Sunset Sound Recorders is a recording studio in Hollywood, California, United States, located at 6650 Sunset Boulevard. Background The Sunset Sound Recorders complex was created by Walt Disney's Director of Recording, Tutti Camarata, from a co ...

and

EastWest Studios EastWest Studios (formerly known as Western Studio, a component of United Western Recorders and later Ocean Way Recording) is a recording studio complex located at 6000 West Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. Originally constructed by Bill Putnam in ...

. The songs on ''I Don't Live Here Anymore'' were all reimagined, rewritten and/or remixed multiple times over the course of the album's three-year recording process. Once the album was given a "final" mixing and was mastered by

Greg Calbi Gregory Calbi (born April 3, 1949) is an American mastering engineer at Sterling Sound, New Jersey. Biography Greg Calbi was born on April 3, 1949, in Yonkers, New York, and raised in Bayside, Queens, New York. He graduated in 1966 from Bishop ...

, Granduciel decided to change the mixes of several songs. After a month of revision,

pushed back its release date. One day, Granduciel arranged a final session with Everett to complete the album. They spent twelve hours in Everett's studio remixing several tracks, and then remastered those songs themselves.

Release

The band announced the album on July 19, 2021, simultaneously releasing the single "Living Proof" with an accompanying video directed by

Emmett Malloy The Malloys is the working name of music video and film directors and brothers Emmett Malloy and Brendan Malloy. They have been with Superprime Films since 2010. Videography *"Dance with Me (Blink-182 song), DANCE WITH ME" by blink-182 (2023 ...

. The album's title track, which features

Lucius Lucius is a masculine given name derived from Lucius (Latin ; ), abbreviated L., one of the small group of common Latin forenames () found in the culture of ancient Rome. Lucius probably derives from Latin word ( gen. ), meaning "light" (<

, was released on September 15, 2021, also with a video directed by Malloy. "Change" was released on October 26, 2021. ''I Don't Live Here Anymore'' was released on October 29, 2021, through Atlantic Records. It follows their

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

-winning album ''A Deeper Understanding'' and is the second record of a two-album deal with Atlantic.

Critical reception

''I Don't Live Here Anymore'' received acclaim from music critics. At

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, which assigns a

normalized Normalization or normalisation refers to a process that makes something more normal or regular. Science * Normalization process theory, a sociological theory of the implementation of new technologies or innovations * Normalization model, used in ...

rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 85, based on 25 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". Aggregator AnyDecentMusic? gave it 8.0 out of 10, based on their assessment of the critical consensus. Rhys Buchanan of ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

'' gave the album 5 out of 5 stars, writing, "There's magic everywhere you look on this triumph of an album." Mark Beaumont of ''

Classic Rock Classic rock is a radio format that developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, it comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the early-1990s, primarily focusing on comm ...

'' wrote that the album is "at its most immersive when they strip the moodscapes back to piano, glacial atmospherics and cracked emotion on 'Living Proof', 'Rings Around My Father's Eyes' and the rousing 'Old Skin', allowing a little fragility to tint their mist blue." Writing for ''

Beats Per Minute Beat, beats, or beating may refer to: Common uses * Assault, inflicting physical harm or unwanted physical contact * Battery (crime), a criminal offense involving unlawful physical contact * Battery (tort), a civil wrong in common law of in ...

'', John Amen concluded, "There’s something ungraspable about their music: referential yet original, derivative yet prototypical, memorable yet oddly irretrievable. Ponderous yet transcendent. A listener is invited to encounter the assorted boundaries of their own preferences, biases, identity – to let those hard lines dissolve." Sharon O'Connell of '' Uncut'' wrote, "The War On Drugs have fine-tuned their hybrid of American drivetime classicism and kosmische on ''I Don't Live Here Anymore'' and buffed it to a warm sheen."

Year-end lists

Track listing

Personnel

The War on Drugs *

– vocals (all tracks), acoustic guitar (1–3, 7–10), lead electric guitar (1, 4–6), piano (1, 4, 6), Juno-106 (1, 4, 5), celesta (1, 8), electric guitar (2, 3, 7–10), synth guitar (2), bass (2, 6), Juno-60 (2, 5, 7, 8),

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert, first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding #Drawbars, drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, sound was created ...

(2, 3, 9), percussion (2, 4, 8),

Wurlitzer The Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, usually referred to as simply Wurlitzer, is an American company started in Cincinnati in 1853 by German immigrant (Franz) Rudolph Wurlitzer. The company initially imported stringed, woodwind and brass instruments ...

(4, 5, 10), Kurzweil (4, 6), Prophet-6 (4),

MPC MPC, Mpc or mpc may refer to: Astronomy * Megaparsec (Mpc), unit of length used in astronomy * Minor Planet Center, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory ** ''Minor Planet Circulars'' (MPC, M.P.C. or MPCs), astronomical publication from the Minor ...

(5),

808 808 may refer to: Music * Roland-808, Roland TR-808, a drum machine * 808 (film), ''808'' (film), a documentary about the Roland TR-808 * 808 State, British electronic group * ''808s & Heartbreak'', the fourth studio album by American Hip hop arti ...

drum

programming Program (American English; also Commonwealth English in terms of computer programming and related activities) or programme (Commonwealth English in all other meanings), programmer, or programming may refer to: Business and management * Program m ...

(5), Korg K2 (6),

Walter Becker Walter Carl Becker (February 20, 1950 – September 3, 2017) was an American musician, songwriter, and record producer. He was the co-founder, guitarist, bassist, and co-songwriter of the jazz rock band Steely Dan.Russonello, Giovanni,Listen to ...

's old bass (7), felt piano (7), harmonica (7), ARP Quartet (8),

Mellotron The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in Birmingham, England, in 1963. It is played by pressing its keys, each of which causes a length of magnetic tape to contact a Capstan (tape recorder), capstan, which pulls i ...

(9, 10), lead guitar

utro Malte Fynboe Manniche Ebert (born 26 June 1994), better known by his former nickname Gulddreng, is a Danish musician. His identity was unknown until the father of his host family from an exchange trip announced his name on Facebook. His name tran ...

(10),

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stat ...

, art direction * Dave Hartley – bass (1, 2, 4–6, 8–10), VP-330 (2, 5),

Rickenbacker Rickenbacker International Corporation is a string instrument manufacturer based in Santa Ana, California. Rickenbacker is the first known maker of electric guitars, with a steel guitar in 1932, and produces a range of electric guitars and bass ...

bass (3), electric guitar (4), OP-1 (9), cover and gatefold photography * Robbie Bennett – piano (1, 2, 5, 8–10), Prophet 12 (2),

Akai AX60 The AX60 is a polyphonic analogue keyboard synthesizer manufactured by Akai Professional in the mid-1980s. It was Akai's answer to the popular Roland Juno series synthesizers. The AX60 uses voltage-controlled analogue oscillators and filter circu ...

(2),

Oberheim OB-X The Oberheim OB-X was the first of Oberheim Electronics, Oberheim's OB-series polyphony (instrument), polyphonic Analog synthesizer, analog Subtractive synthesis, subtractive synthesizers. First commercially available in June 1979, the OB-X was ...

(4), New Jersey electric guitar (6), Juno 60 (6), Eventide piano (7), ARP Solina (9) * Charlie Hall – drums (5, 7), percussion (5–7),

prepared piano A prepared piano is a piano that has had its sounds temporarily altered by placing bolts, screws, mutes, rubber erasers, and/or other objects on or between the strings. Its invention is usually traced to John Cage's dance music for ''Works for pr ...

(8) *

Anthony LaMarca Anthony LaMarca is a drummer, guitarist, singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and co-founder of Primary Records. He is currently a member of the War on Drugs, joining the band on its tour in support of its third studio album, '' Lost in the ...

– drums (1, 3, 4, 9), Hammond organ (1), percussion (3, 4, 9, 10), electric vibes (4), electric guitar (4),

pedal steel guitar The pedal steel guitar is a console steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings, enabling more varied and complex music to be played than with other steel guitar designs. Like all steel guitars, it can play ...

(9), acoustic guitar (10) * Jon Natchez – Prophet-6 (1),

baritone saxophone The baritone saxophone (sometimes abbreviated to "bari sax") is a member of the saxophone family of instruments, larger (and lower-pitched) than the tenor saxophone, but smaller (and higher-pitched) than the bass saxophone, bass. It is the lowe ...

(2, 4, 5, 8), Hammond organ (4), Wurlitzer (9) Additional musicians * Michael Bloch – Mellotron (1), nylon AMS dub guitar (2), Ursa Major Telecaster (3), electric guitar (4), electric swamp guitar (5), lead electric guitar (9), lead electric raindrop guitar (10) * James Elkington – lead electric guitar (2), lead acoustic guitar (2) * Patrick Berkery – drums (2, 8, 10), percussion (2, 8, 10) * Lee Pardini – grand piano (3, 7), piano (8) *

Christopher Bear Christopher Robert Bear (born July 19, 1982) is a drummer and multi-instrumentalist member of the Brooklyn-based indie-rock group Grizzly Bear. Bear joined the group with singer Ed Droste for contributions on their first record, '' Horn of Ple ...

– drums (5), percussion (5) * Matt Lowell – background vocals (5) *

– vocals (6) *

Eric Slick Eric James Marshall Slick (born May 15, 1987) is an American singer, songwriter and drummer. He is the drummer of Dr. Dog, performing on their albums '' Shame, Shame'' (2010), '' Be The Void'' (2012), '' B-Room'' (2013), '' The Psychedelic Swamp ...

– drums (6), percussion (6) * Sam KS – drums (6), percussion (6) * Daniel Clarke – Hammond organ (7), organ (8) Technical *

– production, mixing,

recording A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, re ...

– mastering * Ivan Wayman – additional engineering * Nick Krill – additional engineering * Quarantine Cowboys – additional engineering * Steve Fallone – mastering assistance Artwork and design * Rob Carmichael (SEEN) – art direction, design * Dominic East – art direction * Daniel Topete – additional studio photography * Dustin Condren – additional studio photography

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{Authority control 2021 albums The War on Drugs (band) albums Atlantic Records albums Albums produced by Adam Granduciel Albums produced by Shawn Everett Albums recorded at EastWest Studios Albums recorded at Electric Lady Studios Albums recorded at Electro-Vox Recording Studios Albums recorded at Sound City Studios Albums recorded at Sunset Sound Recorders