Woods – At Echo Lake

When I first encountered Brooklyn band Woods via last year’s Songs of Shame, I didn’t want to like what I was listening to. The reasons for my resistance to the music, however, had more to do with my own personal, snobbish hang-ups than anything I was hearing on the record. Woods appeared to be, in my biased mind, not much more than four Brooklyn nerds riding some sort of forced ’60s nostalgia wave — their jangly, lo-fi “folk-explorations” drawing ludicrous comparisons to CSN&Y and the Grateful Dead. And to top it all off, it didn’t help that lead singer Jeremy Earl (Woodsist label-founder) looks uncannily like the boyfriend of a girl I’d formerly been crushing on.

But after witnessing a live video of the band performing a stirring rendition of Shame’s standout “Rain On,” practically all of my superficial judgements were laid waste — I couldn’t deny such a remarkable piece of music. It appeared that Woods, unlike their lo-fi label-mate peers Vivian Girls and Wavves, had something more to their songs than simple gimmick. Their newest album At Echo Lake, while offering more than a handful of pleasurable moments, however, unfortunately fails to capitalize on the presumption-altering promises suggested by Shame.

If there’s a stronger side to Lake, it’s probably found within the first half of the album. “Suffering Season” brims with feel-good, acoustic guitar-strums and tasteful ambient and electric guitar ornamentation. Album opener “Blood Dries Darker” kicks off with a Revolver-era guitar riff before entering a groove-steady pace. Each harmonic walk down to the minor-sixth chord not only encapsulates the bitter-sweet nostalgia of the title, but leaves a listener wanting to stay as long as possible. The track’s fuzzed-out, tremolo-picked guitar soloing creates a fitting contrast to what is the album’s strongest melodic hook.

As found in “Suffering Season” and “Blood Dries Darker,” one of Woods greatest strengths is the way in which each member compliments Earl’s tunes. Perhaps it’s only fitting that the dullest moments on the record occur when the band simply misfires in the song’s arrangement. For example, “Get Back” (no relation to Lennon/McCartney) is a solid song completely ruined by some very un-melodic and distasteful pentatonic electric guitar playing. The complete lack of context is also heightened by Jarvis Taveniere’s painfully lazy drumming. Which really is an unfortunate surprise considering how well he plays on Pixies riff-off/instrumental psych-jam “From the Horn.”

Still, the band’s experimentation — when it actually works — is quite admirable on tracks like “Time Fading Lines.” An unapologetically pretty song, it’s contemplative melody “In an hour or so/ I’ll let you know” unravels alongside ambient feedback, tasteful soling, and nifty, closing percussive clangs. Even the misplaced notes somehow fit. What doesn’t fit on the album, however, is the relatively pointless ambient and hand-clapped experimentation on “Deep” — which, is anything but. Instead, this playful two-chord ditty is dragged down by uninspired guitar soloing, dissonant ambience, a flute and Earl’s falsetto. It’s a downer because Earl’s voice — normally a unique and central element of the band — for the first time on the album, irritates more than it inspires. “Pick Up” is a better example of Earl’s vocal and lyrical gifts: “Let’s let the year’s go by/ Let’s let ‘em pick on half their size” he sings as reverb-soaked production renders the same creepy vibe familiar to Shame. Maybe it’s a tad unfair to mistaken it as the album’s attempt at recreating “Rain On,” but with it’s quickened pace and heart-pulsed ambient timpani, it’s just not that kind of song.

And perhaps it’s unfair to hold a band up to a standard they may have no intention of holding to themselves — surely, Woods don’t want to make the same album twice. But for me, being so surprised and shaken out of my own presumptions upon hearing Songs of Shame, I can’t help comparing that initial experience to the experience offered on Woods latest album. As far as artistic growth is concerned, however, the problem isn’t that Woods is simply echoing what they’ve already done in the past, but that they haven’t made good on what their better material still promises listeners. An enjoyable record, for the most part, here’s hoping At Echo Lake not only leads Woods to more quality consistent waters but to an album that surprises more presumptuous snobs like me.

Tagged as: Brooklyn

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.