402) Wooden Shjips - V

A request, not mainstream and I have heard of them, what’s going on?

Now when I say I have heard of them, that’s it, I have never actually heard a note, have no knowledge of what they are like and despite racking my brain cannot for the life of me think why I know them. Time to turn to the internet.

Formed in 2009 in San Francisco they are a four-piece band who have released five studio albums but there has been no recent music from them since this record was released in 2018.

Seemingly the band were working on a summer record, but lead singer Ripley Johnston’s Portland home studio was surrounded by forest fires and the times we live in pushed the band towards a darker edge.

There is a lovely woozy feel to this record perfect for an early morning hot drink as you prepare for your day or a late evening one, alcoholic maybe, to take the tension at whatever life has thrown at you. It’s certainly not just a summer record and if owned I could see me slipping this on my turntable in any of the twelve months of the year but not before I was about to hit the town, (as if, at my age I hit the town).

If you read anything about this band then words like proggy, psychedelic and experimental are usually mentioned, I guess for me my closest reference in the music I regularly listen to would be Spiritualized and they have never let me down, so I found this thoroughly enjoyable.

The band can certainly play veering off into jams, not meandering and pointless as they come back to the song, however it is a record that you would need to be in the mood for.

I am not so sure this is a record to dip in and out of but special mention for a couple of the tracks, Eclipse stands out, the band pushing the music to a faster pace, the rhythm section anchoring the song and to these untrained ears I am sure I can hear the odd brass instrument.

Staring at the Sun starts like The Jesus and Mary Chain and we have a blissed out seven minutes with instrumental breaks before the spaced out vocals reappear, next time the better half is away and I come in worse for wear this is going on as I drift to sleep and Ride On will happily send me to my dreams in a blissed out state.

Not a record to change your life but one to certainly enjoy.

7/10

GIVE IT A STREAM: Eclipse