At Echo Lake is the fifth album from New York-based Woods.They make no effort to nestle in amongst the ever saturated heap of growing singer-songwriters who walk the tight-rope balanced by a very safely manufactured pole which on one side is weighed down with twee pop and the other with indie folk. Instead, they head out on their own journey consisting of a pinch of leftfield alternative folk, serenaded by psychedelia and wrapped in Neil Young’ish strained vocals and well-fitted lo-fi effects.
Despite a convoluted pigeon-hole description, the album is creative and original with a supposed focus on vocal content which may be an intentional sway from their past discography, but I’m not going to speculate on this by pretending I know it that well, I don’t, apart from a few tracks I heard in the distant past. Whilst being paralleled with the Grateful Dead, maybe because The Dead are being re-examined in a new light and by new torch-bearers, they do have some semblance, but this doesn’t reflect across the whole album. Instead they carve up a host of influences and come up with something altogether new and worthy of a good listen.
Time Fading Lines is a stand-out tune which is neatly followed by From the Horn with some awesome psychedelic guitar that encouraged me back for constant replays. Yep, I admit the jewel for me was their music and then the song, maybe because I’m a newcomer to their work. One thing is certain, the more you listen, the more you’ll like it.