Woods: Sun and Shade

Label: Woodsist

I think I love Woods. The band, I mean, but the vast collections of trees too, though that would be a different conversation. Or would it? You get very comfortable being surrounded by trees, and the feeling isn't so dissimilar when listening to Woods. The band's sixth album both does and does not deviate from the very unique place they've carved for themselves in the indie-undieground: There are plenty of loosely brilliant folk-pop tunes that have that perfectly ramshackle vibe that cannot be autotuned: "Hand It Out," which sounds as generous as the title implies; "Pushing Onlys" has a quasi-Merseyside melody to it (though maybe that's just the particular synapse it tweaks in my brain); "What Faces the Sheet" is a sweet little jam that you can -- nay, will! -- bounce around your porch to. But then there are two long pieces: "Out of the Eye" takes Krautrock and makes it Woodsy, with the best parts of both and even a guitar move that could've been copped from '67-vintage Lou Reed at his wooliest; "Sol Y Sombra" takes us deep into the mystical Woods, with hand percussion and righteous guitar tones howling out from the campfire's periphery. This is one band where you never think in terms of like, This one's better than Songs of Shame, or anything like that. At least partly cause they're all so good, and Sun and Shade is no exception.