Woods
Be All Be Easy b/w God's Children
Woodsist

Woods put out the eminent album Bend Beyond last year. Top shelf psyche folk. "Be All Be Easy" is a new take on a song from their album Sun and Shade (2011), while the B side is a Kinks-cover. Sounds interesting.

"Be All Be Easy" differs from the more folk-oriented, slightly quicker 'old' version by presenting the song dressed in a more rockish outfit. Well, rock as in the valley where lo-fi, indie-rock folksters like Woods roam. Or, rather: The mysterious woods where they've set up their camp HQ. Woods are singer-guitarist and bandleader Jeremy Earl (who runs the Woodsist label as well), and his comrade foresters; bassist Kevin Morby, (new) drummer Aaron Neveu, and multi-instrumentalist (mainly guitar player) Jarvis Taveniere. They have throughout 5 albums refined their sound and their songs, and last year's record showed a band more 'polished', or; as polished a lo-fi outfit could (should?) be. That said Woods still sound charmingly ragged and jangly. "Be All Be Easy" revisited got a widescreen attitude, sort of, like running out of the woods and into a desert. It sounds like a 60s flowery pop psyche gem, and it's a perfect song for the summer. Earl's characteristic falsetto vocals surf the rest of the band, and the Byrds wave friendly from the back of the room. Along with their protégés Teenage Fanclub, Band of Horses, and Grand Archives.

The flip-side presents The Kinks' "God's Children" (from the soundtrack of the British 1971 movie Percy [which was based on a novel by Raymond Hitchcock, the father of Robyn Hitchcock!]. Woods do Ray Davies' song with love and affection, and they've come up with an indeed fine interpretation, laid-back and cool. It's slightly quicker than the original, and of course it lacks Davies' dry and wry Brit touch. Yet it's another sunny song which fits to follow the warm breeze from "Be All Be Easy". Like I said, it's summertime.

The recording of these songs is said to be "...a farewell to Rear House, Woods' home, recording studio, creative refuge and beloved shithole for ten long years...". This seven inch is limited to 1,000 copies. You'd better run shopping.

Copyright © 2013 Håvard Oppøyen