Quick Review (LP): Sun & Shade by Woods

Woods
Sun & Shade
Woodsist; 2011

My Rating: A- (83/100)

Best Tracks: "Out of the Eye", "Pushing Onlys", "Any Other Day", "Hand It Out"

NOTES

• I’m really liking "Pushing Onlys" – great tune!
• Nice krautrock-ish thang on "Out of the Eye."
• Five tracks in, and I think it’s safe to say this is a pretty great album.
• I really like the guitar riffs this band comes up with. "Hand It Out" in particular reminds me of something The Pixies might have come up with.
• Dang this is catchy. ("To Have In The Home")
• The long one sounds like The Doors, except without the corny Jim Morrison vox.
• The second half is a bit more mellowed out than the first. Maybe that’s a conceptual thing? (Sun = Side 1, Shade = Side 2?)
• Ref. analysis? (Slanted & Enchanted + Surfer Rosa) x Wilco = Woods.
• I really love this band’s sound. At first, I was bit turned off by the high-pitched vocals, but it really works with the overall aesthetic of the music. Additionally, the lyrics seems strong after a few listens. I’m planning to dive into this one a little more as the year goes on. A very intriguing effort.
• I agree with Pitchfork that Woods is a “sleeper” band, an act that keeps putting out non-headliners that tend to stick to your brain, not like bubblegum on a shoe, but like the memory of an unexpectedly pleasant stroll through the forest. This is definitely one of my favorites so far this year, and although I’m a bit late to the party, I have to say that I’m really looking forward to exploring more of Woods’ back catalog.

ATTRIBUTES
Cohesion (5/5)
Consequence (4/5)
Concept (5/5)
Consistency (4.5/5)
Songs (4.5/5)