WOODS play the Garrison on October 2. See listing. Rating: NNNN
Woods are known for putting every idea to tape, quickly and cheaply. (It helps that they own their own label.) But on Bend Beyond, their seventh album in just six years, the Brooklyn psych-folk weirdos have taken their time, fleshing out both the arrangements and production. Woods are almost always described with the “lo-fi” tag, but it doesn’t really fit here. The jangly guitars sound crisp and clear, while Jeremy Earl’s melodic vocals, often found floating ethereally above the instrumentals, are locked in at the centre of these uncharacteristically
rocking tunes.
Woods have also described Bend Beyond as their dark album, but although the lyrics are a bit gloomier than usual, as long as Earl is singing in his bright, sun-damaged falsetto, Woods will always make the best soundtrack to a stoned, languid summer day. Still, with fewer experimental throwaways, the album puts the band’s best foot forward: toe-tapping, harmony-laden kernels of pop.
Top track: Bend Beyond
