Without losing the unfiltered emotion that makes them so compelling, Woods reach a new maturity with these songs. Fifteen years into a tirelessly curious evolution, the band sound more comfortable and surefooted here than ever before.
Strange to Explain is warm, weightless, and free-spirited. It doesn’t need to be compartmentalized – it’s gorgeous, and that’s enough.
While largely things haven’t improved in the world, Woods, thankfully, have. Strange to Explain is a luscious return to form. Flawed, but luscious.
Strange to Explain is another fine album from Woods, and one which opens the door for more growth from the band.
It’s the kaleidoscopic soundtrack to a summer romance, the beating heart of a John Green novel, the catharsis of a quirky British indie film about two misfits finding each other on the pursuit of enlightenment.
Instead of people in a room playing guitars and drums and singing into real space, here you can almost feel the sliders sliding and new stereo tracks clicking open on the computer.
Its woods doing what woods does. Continuous cooking grooves, played by some of the best musicians in the indie game. 15 years down and I'm still tuned in. Hope I can see these guys live again in 2021.
Love the album art and the video animations, curiosity of John Andrews (check out his band too).
Woods remain inexhaustible, but time has passed for them too. On their twelfth album, Brooklynites reap the fruits of their fifteen-year career, fearlessly moving between their more experimental instincts and their continual reinterpretation of folk. Recorded months before collaborating with David Berman on that tragic and unforgettable Purple Mountains, Strange to Explain is an album where we expected to find pain, but we ended up finding that complicated feeling that life goes on.
Woods remain inexhaustible, but time has passed for them too. On their twelfth album, Brooklynites reap the fruits of their fifteen-year career, fearlessly moving between their more experimental instincts and their continual reinterpretation of folk. Recorded months before collaborating with David Berman on that tragic and unforgettable Purple Mountains, Strange to Explain is an album where we expected to find pain, but we ended up finding that complicated feeling that life goes on.
1 | Next to You and the Sea 3:53 | |
2 | Where Do You Go When You Dream? 5:51 | |
3 | Before They Pass By 2:50 | |
4 | Can't Get Out 5:18 | |
5 | Strange to Explain 3:34 | |
6 | The Void 2:12 | |
7 | Just to Fall Asleep 5:44 | |
8 | Fell so Hard 4:01 | |
9 | Light of Day 3:19 | |
10 | Be There Still 3:35 | |
11 | Weekend Wind 7:16 |
#52 | / | Piccadilly Records |
#93 | / | Les Inrocks |