Kitty Empire 

Woods: City Sun Eater in the River Of Light – quirky and eminently listenable

The Brooklyn psychedelic folk outfit throw a brass section and other surprises into their impressive ninth album
  
  

Woods pull off a minor masterstroke on their ninth album.
Woods pull off a minor masterstroke on their ninth album. Photograph: PR Company Handout

Brooklyn psychedelic folk outfit Woods have made eight albums of dishevelled, tuneful Americana. Their ninth throws in an unexpected brass section, some pedal steel guitar and even reggae, while retaining the band’s core mellifluousness. It’s a minor masterstroke, making City Sun Eater… a quirky but eminently listenable record. Singer Jeremy Earl’s voice is a tremulous instrument, but his quaver suits the album’s reggae-tinged opener, Sun City Creeps, or its dubby kindred spirit, Can’t See at All. By the time the more conventional Politics of Free rolls around prettily, there have been wah-wah pedals and wig-outs, indie rock and 60s pop, all flowing sinuously into one another, without the need for a crowbar.

 

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