“There are two types of adrenaline that get you. Firstly, the type that makes you do things you can’t normally do and secondly, the type that prevents you from doing things you can always do” complains Woods’ new keyboard player as he frantically struggles to locate the harmonica which is right in front of him. On a gloriously warm Tuesday evening, the harmonica was to prove no dampener on affairs as Woods brought their latest album, City Sun Eater in the River of Light to Brighton. The timid affair which Woods at first presented was to be a rollercoaster through musicianship and energy – Jeremy Earl’s voice sounded as graceful as it does on record – as if there was a time capsule of John Lennon’s voice circa-Revolver that someone had captured and taught to manifest itself in the 21st century.

The Woods performance tonight eerily verged on perfection, something that can often be irritating in a live setting. When a band comes to town – forcing you to sit in anticipation, months ahead of the event when you secure a ticket, you desperately want something more, you want a performance that veers slightly from the record, just to give you a little more for your money. What at first worried me later transposed itself to be the grounding of their performance. The flamboyancy with which Woods’ intersect subtle jam sections into workings of ‘With Light and Love’, ‘Politics of Free’ and ‘Hollow Home’ (treating the music with unapologetic flair) is where they create their interest. Much in the same vein of thinking as Tame Impala, Unknown Mortal Orchestra and Gengahr, they are ruthless with how their fuzzed guitar tones match woozy organ patterns that drip out of the amplifiers in a warm thread. These improvised sections see the band find their charisma onstage, red lights pour down on the group from the roof of The Hope and Ruin, putting them under the hot spotlight of the Texas sun, giving the appropriate ambience to the stage.

It’s certainly weed-friendly music with its clean as ice high ends and similarly, with its stomach-winding bass drive. The unrepentant nature of Woods’ setlist allowed you to feel stoned without ever smoking anything beforehand. Wafts of smoke lingered around The Hope and Ruin courtesy of a few in the crowd, however this may have felt like a slight over-anticipation of affairs when the music began to take form. The relaxed set never really left the warm haze of psychedelic-folk that Woods put together, as the group trod carefully through newer material whilst jousting with favourites such as ‘Moving to the Left’. The guitar and organ took form in a loose manner with the thick, funk-driven bass taking a much louder form away from the reign that holds it back on record. This juxtaposition though allowed for the sound to become a lot more driven, getting cloggy as it hit you, it certainly allowed for some hip-shaking in the crowd.

The atmosphere that grew in such a warm venue played on the relaxed, serene affair that Woods can generate; it was certainly the type of music that felt perfectly at home with the flop sided, horizontal mentality that Brighton takes on – ultra laid-back, so much so that you can strain your neck if not careful. ‘Leaves Like Glass’ and ‘Shepard’ made up the rest of their material from the previous album, just demonstrating the ease as to which Woods can grace between their material, moving in a serpentine manner tying each album close to one another.

When newer material emerged, it certainly hints at a slightly different turn in the Woods sound. The smoggy green haze still lingers but this time, rather than drawing from Lennon, The Grateful Dead and The Allman Brothers, it finds a little more vigour with the pulse of Americana. ‘Sun City Creeps’ rears its head and sinks in the jarring, askew guitar stabs whilst ‘Creature Comfort’ bounces hard upon a lounging rhythm section. ‘Can’t See It All’ drives deep into the jungle of funk – wah wah guitar effects bleed through and dilly dally as they leak through the monitors leaving the hovering voice of Earl suggesting: “Will I be here for you / Even if we fall apart / Even if you float upstream /Your replacement waits outside / It waits for you it waits for me.”

The relaxed nature of affair may have suggested a little more conversing between the crowd and group on-stage, some in the crowd needed a reminder as to where they were occasionally – this blanket was more than lifted come the encore. It was a set that felt intimate but at the same time completely musically exploratory, as if you had been invited into a Woods practice session. It takes you out to the American woodlands, it wants to toast marshmallows with you by the fire, sing gentle lullabies and completely zone you out from the world. ‘The Take’ with its glorious sax winds you down like nothing before and it helps to close off a gentle summer heat. All feels happy in Brighton this evening, the sun is certainly creeping into the city thanks to Woods.
Tom Churchill

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