If you feel that indie music has always lacked real soul or that pop music has long been bereft of poise, then Liverpool’s The Wood has the answer to your dilemma. Just one spin of the opening track and lead single, “Let It Loose,” from this, their debut album, and you are presented with something that sounds almost as if Simply Red and Talking Heads had a baby tasked with the mission to reinstate soul music to its rightful place in the musical pantheon. And do so in a forward-thinking manner.
Days is the result of two music makers, Alex Evans and Steve Powell doing things the old-school way. As the world went about its business, they locked themselves away from everything in a studio in Liverpool’s ancient and iconic dockland. They worked, and worked and worked, making music for the joy of the creative process, unswayed by fad or fashion, and this glorious album is the result, an album with tales to tell and a real sense of location.
“Temptations” is slow and full of pathos, slashed through with shards of razor-wire guitars, starkly contrasting the intimate and understated vocal deliveries that ride over the top. “Stay With Me” is a blend of acoustica and blue-eyed soul, and “Thornside Walk,” another recent single, is a gloriously anthemic and infectious song that seems to wash and wander, ebb and flow across a lilting sonic landscape.
It’s a glorious collection of songs, eight in all, the perfect amount, in my opinion. It is an album full of great songs that blend all manner of styles into The Woods’ own brand of Mersey Soul and do so in a seemingly timeless yet totally fresh way.
Days album order
Bandcamp
Spotify
Thornside Walk
Spotify
Let It Loose video
