It has been five years since Wooden Shjips last dropped an album, and to my mind they were arriving at a point where they were taking the place of Spacemen 3 as the premium hypnotic, psychedelic riff machines, but with the frustration and ennui removed and good old West Coast chills thankfully taking their place. This album may be the one where they start to put those eternal comparisons to rest, though, and cruise gently off on their own.
The feel-good summer vibes and Ripley Johnson‘s incredibly laid-back, delivered from a hammock vocals are just too shiny this time, and they have finally made the summer album they have always intended. Ironically, this has come at a time of great social and geographic upheaval and therefore Ripley’s songs have been painted with a touch more vibrancy to counter the national political turmoil and natural disasters that have befallen his home state of Oregon.
As ever, with only seven tracks spread over forty-two minutes, there is plenty of time for the songs to relax and unwind, often with long instrumental passages that allow the guitar to wiggle and meander across the simple beats laid down by the rhythm section of Omar Ahsanuddin and Dusty Jermier and although this is the general modus for most of the tracks, there is still variety enough in the song-writing for it not to pall.
Opener “Eclipse” kind of does what you want it to do at the start of a Wooden Shjips album, guitar thick with reverb scattered across a rhythm section deep and resonant, steadfastly keeping the loose guitar and keyboards almost in check. A few moments in, things become a little different with the addition of Rob Frye‘s lovely but distant saxophone, blowing smoky at times, insinuating itself around the guitar and at other moments blowing hot and hard notes across the gentle guitar wanderings.The rhythm section are given the chance to stretch their legs a little on “In The Fall”, playing on a slight offbeat, the glissando bass line so warm and nurturing compared to the scurf of the guitar noise. Nash Whalen‘s waves of gentle synth are another counterpoint to the guitar and you really have a taste of what the whole band is bringing to the sound. On the whole, the band’s influences have synthesized into their own sound, but here and there are echoes of things that sound a little familiar.
There’s something about the keyboard in “Red Line” that reminds me of The Fall of all people, and I had this great image of MES with some beads around his neck and a flowery shirt, soaking up the Haight-Ashbury atmosphere with backwards guitar augmenting the dreamiest of vocals. On “Staring At The Sun”, there something Spiritualized-like about the two reverb-y chords, but they are allied to a surprisingly itchy beat with a spring in its step. There is even a point where what sounds like a two-note melodica replaces the guitar line, and the song works all the better for this cute little change over.The final track slows things down to a crawl in its skeletal glory as a Hammond fuses with distorted guitar chords and subterranean bass to change the feel once again. The only line I can make out appears here: “Time has come to head for higher ground”, and I wonder whether this relates to Ripley’s experience of watching forest fires just outside Portland and being surrounded by ash as it came falling down like snow. Listening to his delivery, though, it couldn’t be less panic-stricken, and the guitar just seems to cascade glitter all over the scene rather than gloomy ash. This album must be the most extreme case of taking dark times and turning them into the most vibrant and positive of music.
I remember the joy I had listening to the collection of single tracks that was released as Volume 1 and must confess to being quite disappointed when I heard their first actual studio album. The LPs have improved release after release, but after 2013’s Back To Land, I wondered where they could go next, and whether the world needed another Wooden Shjips album. On the strength of V, I can happily say that it does — and who knows where this may take them next.-Mr Olivetti-
