Music Banter - Woods - Songs of Shame (2009)

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Woods - Songs of Shame (2009)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stu (Post 1018465)

I'll throw in a new one too.

http://www.cokemachineglow.com/images/8894.jpg

Woods have been described as Freak Folk, Lo-Fi Folk Rock, Indie, Alternative Country etc etc. Whatever label you want to place on them, there's no shying away from the fact that Jeremy Earl and co are capable of some deeply atmospheric, dark compositions - as well as a cheeky hook here and there. Songs of Shame is testament to this. The songs creak and groan through the dank underbelly of swampy, smouldering Indie-Folk with extended, borderline-psychedelic jams intersecting songs replete with weary melodies and brooding instrumentation. It's an album I would love to listen to around a campfire in a deep forest... my bedroom will do for now.

So, what did you guys think of it?

Forgot the poll... if a mod could make one, then that would be great. There are seven options: brilliant, very good, decent, mediocre, bad, absolute crap, and not sure.

I totally love it. Not sure if I love it as much as Echo Lake, but Woods are among my favourite bands. Right along with Bon Iver, Perfume Genius, etc.

I obviously like it a lot. It's a little more accessible than their earlier work, which I think with Woods is a good thing because there is actually a great level of talent in Earl's songwriting, which doesnt always come to the fore. I feel on Songs of Shame it does. Yet, at the same time, the album is still replete with those grainy, eerie freak outs. For the first time, up to that point, I think the band got the balance right.

I may as well say a bit about it. I've listened to it around two times. I thought it was a decent album, and I was really surprised to hear a few 60's-ish guitar solos that were worked into some of the songs. The combination of the electric and acoustic guitars gave it a nice alternative rock feel to it in songs as well (like the track "Rain On"). The overall sound of the album is very unique (especially the vocals), which was nice.

I'll admit that it didn't really blow me away, but it certainly was entertaining. I plan on going back over it in the future to get a much better opinion of it. I plan to look into the lyrics, too.

I can say this much, however, I haven't heard a folk rock album like this in the past.

If I could name a few artists that are similar, I would have to say that some of the guitar work is somewhat similar to Galaxy 500 and the vocals are (a little bit) similar to Wayne Coyne's.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jack Pat (Post 1026826)

There are certainly better albums within the field out there, but I find it very interesting nonetheless, and it does grow on you with time. Albums from artists such as Mushroom and Six Organs of Admittance will blow your socks off, this one merely sends ripples through them. But they feel nice.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stu (Post 1027512)

Albums from artists such as Mushroom and Six Organs of Admittance will blow your socks off, this one merely sends ripples through them. But they feel nice.

I'll be sure to check them out. At the moment, I'm kind of on a Captain Beefheart tangent.

I liked the album a lot. I really love the sound of acoustic and electric mixed, too few bands experiment with it today. I did prefer At Echo Lake though, that's really one of my favourite albums lately!

I enjoyed this one. Kind of comes across as an extended low-fi studio jam session. There are enough hooks, twists and originality to make it interesting. Overall maybe 7/10.