The penchant for the art and dedication to music on behalf of Jeremy Earl, the frontman and founder of Woods, is strong enough to keep the entire Brooklyn music scene running alone; now clocking in with their ninth album in a decade. The distinctive evolution of Woods has been subtle. Each of their previous eight albums demonstrating no obvious wild shifts in genre but now with the opportunity to step back and look in retrospect after a decade, the picture becomes a little clearer. Their debut How to Survive In + In The Woods released back in 2006, presented a band that were still finding themselves within their dirge of lo-fi recordings – vocals were obscure and the sound in general buzzed and carried a grit with it. It was a strange and innovative blend of experimental sounds, psychedelia and Americana shifts; now as they have progressed the obscurity has stripped back to reveal the true white picket fences and Levi’s denim below. This is rigorous American culture put through a maze of influences.

City Sun Eater in the River of Light is not only a mouthful of a title but produces perhaps their most polished and pristine piece to date. Earl and co seem to have set down the woozy psychedelia that previously swamped their back catalogue pre-With Light and With Love. It’s still evident of course, but slimmed down and diluted in favour of the campfire classics and emphasis on atmospheric textures. ‘Creature Comfort’ is alluring with its pretty melodies, its slap, slack guitar style and cool keyboard sounds. It gives emphasis that this is a band that is maturing, coming to head with their own influences and perhaps their own culture as a band. It no longer carries the weight of a band that are trying to cut their teeth within the intensity of New York but rather the sort that are pre-occupied with hopping in the old RV and taking a fun vacation out to the woods (sorry). This is not to lament the band at all but rather to compliment it; they seem to be doing what most bands fear doing more than anything else and that is developing their sound, taking it from the past to the present. Growing old, gracefully.

Woods seem to have stripped back the vast majority of the fuzz that previously riddled through their lo-fi sound. Where it does come up, it comes up precisely and gently, see ‘Politics of Free’ – a song that carries a funk groove with a captivating guitar pattern. Swells of fuzz present themselves as tokens of the Woods of yesteryear, when they come up at rarer intervals, you savour them and appreciate them more. Similar on ‘Hang It on Your Wall’. When the fuzz comes, it comes in droves and presents that far flung neo-psychedelia that the likes of The Black Angels toy with so frequently. When Woods really begin to shine on City Sun Eater, is when they find their talent for writing incredibly pulsating rhythms perched perfectly upon phased guitar sounds; ‘Can’t See at All’ is a pop song by every definition of the term. The melodies produced within this would be nothing alien to the likes of Drake; they are big, bold melodies that just so happen to be placed upon a smooth, R’n’B fuelled, Americana sound.

The influences though are spread far and wide throughout City Sun Eater. The band may have shed the obscure sounds that previously embedded themselves within the music but instead, the inspirations have become a little more thoughtful and playful. The folk roots are obviously still there but moves towards jazz and Afrobeat are just as evident. Take into account ’Sun City Creeps’ which opens the album. It’s jarring little guitar sections and lush horns, build, recoil and expand into an all out freakout by the end. This is a common technique performed within psychedelia of recent times, the likes of Goat and Flamingods being two that have previously toyed with the notion and now Woods have come to claim it. It’s hard to execute well but clearly Earl understands the positioning of Woods’ previous sound, so blending it with that Americana folk is original and marvellous at the same time.

The danger that Woods have occasionally confronted in their latest piece however is the patches where it all becomes a bit, well, beige and predictable. The comparisons to campfire songs and picket fences previously brings about the conclusions of the settled image of American life and the nuclear family, but of course there’s no danger here. When you remove the danger that Woods previously posed, what do you really have? It’s all very safe. Earl’s voice is fortunate in the sense that it is so distinctive and unique to the sound of Woods; that falsetto carries the music at times making it travel further than it perhaps should and often on City Sun Eater in the River of Light it presents the potential to stop the music becoming totally bland. ‘The Take’ poses promise but by the mid-point, it becomes lethargic and tired as a song – Earl’s voice is all that remains relevant about it and by the end, it just simmers out almost as if it became bored of itself. The same goes for ‘I See In the Dark’, a track that plays around with those King Gizzard freakout sections but, the promise of anything remotely interesting just revolves around loose guitar lines bouncing off of one another. It should be great, if only Earl and co could put a little more thought into it.

Woods are nine albums deep. Building such a diligent CV of music should really have pushed Woods far out into the big time somewhat. Their music is consistently good so you kind of scratch your head slightly wondering why they haven’t become so much more. It’s certainly not for lack of trying, it’s perhaps just that they are yet to produce that profound album – they have struggled to outline that standout single that their peers have. They are a band certainly worthy to keep your eye on though. Sun City Eater in the River of Light is testament to this fact; they are a band you can revisit on a regular basis and check up on and know that you will be gratified somehow.
Tom Churchill

Woods play at The Hope and Ruin on 21st June 2016.

Website: woodsist.com
Facebook: facebook.com/woodsfamilyband
Twitter: twitter.com/WOODSIST