One of summer's best

Woods are on quite a creative streak. Their newest album, “Sun and Shade,” is perhaps the strongest album in an impressive discography.

The first track, “Pushing Onlys,” at first suggests that Woods will be focusing on honing their pop music skills. The track is so sunny and melodic that it practically demands a sing-a-long. That mood does not last long, though.
 
By the album’s fourth track, “Out of the Eye,” the feel of the album has darkened significantly.

The track is a seven-minute jam that sounds quite a bit like Neu!’s “Hallogallo.” In addition to the Krautrock influences, the song is also reminiscent of Wilco’s “Spiders (Kidsmoke).” The album oscillates between lighter and darker moods up to the point where the title, “Sun and Shade,” seems quite apt.

The album features another long jam a few tracks later. These have become commonplace on Woods’ albums, but the longer tracks are superior to many of the attempts on previous albums. The band seems more concerned with developing an actual song instead of just letting loose with some tape manipulation and acid guitar parts.

The band has also decreased the amount of tape hiss used compared to previous albums.

They still retain a very warm sound, but now the instruments and vocals have a clarity that wasn’t a certainty in the past. Although occasionally challenging, “Sun and Shade” is a rewarding album. They haven’t abandoned experimentation, but rather mixed it with more conventional pop influences.