“For their seventh album, Bend Beyond, Woods got dark. It’s not that they weren’t dark before-when you really get in there and listen, Jeremy Earl is singing about some heavy stuff, but it’s hidden under his obtuse lyrics. On Bend Beyond, though, Earl and company fully embrace that darkness. Album opener “Bend Beyond,” has long been a jammy live staple, but here it’s compact and tight with a stuttered guitar line and a world-ending collision of instruments. Meanwhile “Is It Honest” jangles along happily until you notice Earl is in a more destructive zone than the bright music initially suggests, singing It’s so fucking hard to see as both a form of comfort and an act of despair. Instrumentally, Bend Beyond is the most full Woods record yet, guitars weave and bubble across peppy drumming, but lyrically Earl is at his most direct and spare. While previous albums sounded like they went directly from Earl’s brain to tape with minimal outside interference.

Dates

Tue-Aug-07 Santa Barbara, CA Velvet Jones *
Wed-Aug-08 Los Angeles, CA Echo *
Thu-Aug-09 San Diego, CA Soda Bar
Wed-Aug-29 King Georg – Köln (D)
Thu-Aug-30 Madame Moustache – Brussels (B)
Fri-Aug-31 Occii – Amsterdam (NL)
Sat-Sept-01 Brighton, UK The Blind Tiger
Sun-Sept-02 Dorset, UK End of the Road
Mon-Sept-03 London, UK Cargo
Tue-Sept-04 Leeds, UK Brudenell Social Club
Wed-Sept-0 Bristol, UK The Fleece
Sat-Sep-08 New York, NY Meatopia at Randall’s Island
Wed-Sep-26 Atlanta, GA Variety Playhouse #
Thu-Sep-27 Nashville, TN Cannery Ballroom #
Fri-Sep-28 Asheville, NC Orange Peel #
Sat-Sep-29 Cincinnatti, OH Midpoint Music Fest / Grammers #
Sun-Sep-30 Pittsburgh, PA Mr. Smalls #

* = w/ Peaking Lights
# = w/ The Walkmen

WOODS
Bend Beyond
CD/LP/CS/MP3
woodsist062
Street date: Sept 18, 2012

1. Bend Beyond
2. Cali In A Cup
3. Is It Honest?
4. It Ain’t Easy
5. Cascade
6. Back To The Stone
7. Find Them Empty
8. Wind Was The Wine
9. Lily
10. Size Meets The Sound
11. Impossible Sky
12. Something Surreal

WOODS
Cali in a Cup 7″
woodsist061
Street date: Aug. 14, 2012

A: Cali in a Cup
B: Give Your Light Off
Twitter – www.twitter.com/woodsist
Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/woodsfamilyband

Label – http://www.woodsist.com