The Wood - Thornside Walk (Riverdream Records)

If America can claim all the cool road names – Bourbon Street, Ocean Drive, Michigan Avenue then a name such as Thornside Walk sounds about as quintessentially English as you can get. And this is the title of the latest one from Liverpool’s The Wood.

But just as you should never judge a book by its cover, “Thornside Walk” proves to be something bigger, more far-reaching, and more genre-hopping than such a parochial title might suggest. Yes, it might shimmer with that same jangling pop guitar that seemed to define a certain subsection of the post-punk landscape—one, remember that it owes a great debt to bands such as The Byrds, but there is more to it than that.

For every British pop swathe, there seems to be an equal amount of American vibes. For each pop or indie move that you would associate with this side of the Atlantic, you hear something echoing out that feels more from the realms of Americana, not least Alex Evan’s rich voice or a soulful interlude. Trans-Atlantica? Is that a thing?

This is a dark and delicious song, musing on those moments when life seems at its hardest but it is a song ultimately filled with resilience, optimism, and hope for the future. Gorgeous stuff.

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