Even before it has fully hit its stride, this first taste of The Wood’s forthcoming second album speaks volumes about the rich textures that inhabit their songs. On the surface, ‘Strangers’ might seem like a simple song, but as always, the simplest sonic expressions are the most nuanced, complex, layered and deftly-wrought. It is certainly the case with ‘Strangers.’
As you let the song wash over you, which is the only way to experience it, this is music for the heart and soul rather than the head, you are drawn in, as if sinking to the ocean floor. And as you descend, lush sounds and dappled sun-ray sonics, warm caresses, and dream-like sensations become your whole world.
For all its beauty, there is pain at the song’s heart, the pain of unrequited love, of all that unfulfilled potential, all that fear of the unknown, all that doubt, all that ache and anguish – the song turning all of that unresolved emotion into ecstatic beauty.
There is an echo of Scott Walker about it too, a 60’s chamber-pop-soulfulness, but placed in the most contemporary of musical settings.
In short, ‘Strangers’ is a gorgeous piece of music, but more than that it tugs at every listener’s heartstrings, as if The Wood have written a song for each of us, for all of us, which in a way they have.
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