Artist: Woods
Title: At Echo Lake
Label: Woodsist
Release Date: May 11, 2010
I had the good fortune of catching Woods open for my favorite psychedelic Swedes, Dungen, last August at Johnny Brenda’s in Fishtown. At first I wasn’t sure what to expect. One band member kneeled on the floor the entire stage with an old cassette tape player and a mic making all sorts of static noise loops while the rest of the band appeared to be playing on equiptment that was swiped out of a 60’s pawn shop. Little did I know I would be getting some sort of wonderful fusion between The Velvet Underground, The Byrds, and Animal Collective. Now upon the heels of glorious SXSW buzz and hype they’re releasing a most anticipated follow up to their very stellar Songs of Shame LP.
The first thing I noticed upon listening to At Echo Lake was that this album, eerily, had a slightly more polished production than previous Woods releases. The vocals were much more forefront and clearer than earlier Woods recordings I’ve heard. Strange when you’re known for being one of the best Lo-Fi bands in Brooklyn. However, the album still has that rough around the edges sound that it’s not too out of line.
The album’s opener “Blood Dries Darker” is strikingly similar to “To Clean”, the opening track off Songs of Shame, however it’s just different enough to still stand on it’s own without feeling like a reshash of the same song. The classic super-tremeloed guitar solo is pure classic 60’s garage glory. While adore Woods’ delicate yet haunting vocals, especially on “Death Rattle”, the stand out track on this album is their non-stop rocking instrumental “From the Horn”. The only thing missing is Lou Reed passing out in a corner.
“Suffering Season” shows how Woods has mastered the art of jangle pop with twangy reverb guitar lines and a touch of glockenspiel over the saccharine lyrics “who knows what tomorrow might bring?”. While some of the more stripped down numbers “Time Fading Lines” and “Til the Sun Rips” demonstrates the band’s flair for the sentimental, the track “Mornin’ Time” feels like a hazy hangover from a bad trip. All in all I have the feeling At Echo Lake will be making lot of people’s “best of” 2010 lists. A perfect soundtrack for summer – if only you could listen to it on a transistor radio.