Woods appreciate a good melody, and luckily they also know how to write one – or twelve in the case of ‘Sun and Shade’. This is probably the band’s best yet, and probably their most consistent (which after their last two records is saying something).

Sound-wise the album is pretty much as expected, yet with the two elongated instrumentals – the Krautrock, Can-flavoured ‘Out of The Eye’, and low-end, bewitched, rolling ‘Sol Y Sombra’ – stretching out at tracks four and seven, the band’s poppier moments get a chance to reset and refresh.

Frontman Jeremy Earl jumps straight back into the high-pitched, wavering melodics, as album opener, ‘Pushing Onlys’, bounds along like a joyous piece of summer guitar fuzz. The 60s have regularly tinged the Brooklyn band’s hooks, and ‘Any Other Day’ proves their influences remain intact. It’s a distorted, reverberating set of electrics and crashing refrains; and if at this point you are thinking why you might want a record of Woods doing a very good take at being Woods, then fear not. The band have also recorded some of their most exposed, cards-on-the-table songs since it all began back in 2005.

‘Who Do You Think I Am?’ is a self-reflecting, lovelorn tale – told against a clean-cut acoustic, and Earl yearning like he’s rarely done before. Other similar moments include, most notably, album closer ‘Say Goodbye’ – a beautiful, harmonised, wah-wah embellished folk meander.

Woods have made another very good record with ‘Sun and Shade, subtly dropping in a few new wanderings in the process. It seems unfair to everyone else that they can come up with the goods year after year – but that’s exactly what they seem to be doing.

-William Bell-