Beginning with an exuberant punch of drums, guitar and keyboards, and marching to a shimmering bounce throughout, you would think that this song would have been recorded and released by The War On Drugs immediately after conception. However, “Oceans of Darkness”, with a lyrical theme in keeping with its title (“And all I do is push, push, push / And you’re making it so hard to love”) standing in contrast with its bright, major chord energy, was not such a sure thing.
As front man Adam Granduciel puts it, well into working on their 2021 collection I Don’t Live Here Anymore, bassist Dave Hartley found the demo, and got them to record it: “We were frustrated and exhausted at the time, but we set up in a circle after dinner and worked it out as the tape was rolling. It’s rare that a song of ours could feel this complete after only a few takes, but it had all the desperation and urgency that we had been looking for.” Ultimately, “Oceans of Darkness” did not surface in that album, but now sees the light of day as part of its box set reissue.
"Oceans Of Darkness" is joined on The War On Drugs' latest by another previously unreleased song, “Slow Ghost.”