Woods: At Echo Lake

Label: Woodsist

Last year’s Songs of Shame made me a hardcore Woods believer, so At Echo Lake arrives just in time to keep this warm season cruising along in my corner of things. And wow is it sweet — a wrist-flick confident and easygoing nature suffuse the album, a very accessible, sun-kissed form of modern rustic folk-psychedelia that wastes little time kicking in. Opening tune “Blood Dries Darker” has everything: a killer guitar hook, friendly-ghost-choral background vocals, and an untroubled pace that opens up into a roaring guitar campfire party. The song ends with you grinning broadly, in part because you know there are ten more songs to go. Other highlights for your late-nights: “Time Fading Lines,” a supernaturally cool acoustic-based ember of a tune with guest sitar (!) from true-school out-folkie Matt Valentine, and “Get Back” — not a Beatles cover but an echoey song of youthful but wise advice, featuring the drum skills of Pete Nolan (of Magik Markers and Spectre Folk). A gorgeous record through and through, At Echo Lake will help to gently expand your consciousness. (M.L. Thrope)