Wanted to take a moment to scribble one more entry before my annual pilgrimage home for a glorious weekend of musical tapas in my beloved city by the lake. I'll check in afterwards with my usual Lolla roundup, but for now wanted to offer a bit about the great new album by Brooklyn quartet Woods, With Light and Love. The album's touchstones span genres and eras -- early Americana with some country-fried crumbles sprinkled in, 60s era Brit rock like The Byrds with a little 70s era Band or Neil Young there as well -- which lends the affair an immediately recognizable vibe. Across the album's ten songs and 40 short minutes, you'll find yourself slipping into riffs and progressions as easily and invitingly as a well-worn shoe.
Much of that has to do with lead singer Jeremy Earl's high-pitched falsetto, which wraps each song in a golden glow only augmented by the nostalgia evoked by the album's influences. The band effortlessly shifts between the latter, running through all three of them in order on the album's opening trio -- from the blissful honkytonk of "Shepherd" to the taut psychedelia of "Shining" and the smoldering jam of the title track, the band showcases an impressive range on this, their sixth album.
They continue the shifts across the remaining tracks, with high points being the radiant "New Light," whose harmonies kick in halfway through and elevate things to the atmosphere; the languid and lovely "Full Moon," which glides along on a shimmering slide guitar riff; and the elegant and stately "Leaves Like Glass," which sounds like a long lost outtake from The Last Waltz, one every bit as worthy of that legendary band's performance. Nothing tops the below track, "Moving to the Left" for me, though -- beautiful harmony and melody, simple, solid lyrics, and an overall feel that is warm, bright, and instantly familiar, much like the album that contains it. A great track on an equally great album -- check it out here:
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