Woods

At Echo Lake

BY Ian GormelyPublished May 18, 2010

"Jammy" and "lo-fi" are the two words most bandied about when discussing Brooklyn, NY lo-fi folk pop kings Woods. Both qualities remain on the band's latest, At Echo Lake, but in a much-reined form. The record sounds far cleaner and crisper than their previous two efforts, and the songwriting has been tightened up, leaving the long-form instrumental jams for the live show. Opener "Blood Dries Darker" comes in at a whopping four-and-a-half minutes without employing a long section of squalling noise, while "Suffering Season" skips along like some lost late '60s psychedelic pop single. In fact, the light folk pop sound of the '60s is all over this record, suggesting the band have been giving their Byrds and Grateful Dead records a lot of spins over the last year. Long-time fans might be scared off by the sudden pop flourishes, but all the changes are relative ― this isn't a record of processed beats and overdubs. Following instrumental "From the Horn," Woods fall back into the dreamier bedroom sound of the past on "Death Rattles" and "I Was Gone," before ending on the simple "Til the Sun Rips." By moving forward without abandoning the past, At Echo Lake could be one of those rare records that manages to expand a band's reach without scaring off their older fans.
(Woodsist)

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