Brooklyn psychedelic folk outfit Woods have made eight albums of dishevelled, tuneful Americana. Their ninth throws in an unexpected brass section, some pedal steel guitar and even reggae, while retaining the band’s core mellifluousness. It’s a minor masterstroke, making City Sun Eater… a quirky but eminently listenable record. Singer Jeremy Earl’s voice is a tremulous instrument, but his quaver suits the album’s reggae-tinged opener, Sun City Creeps, or its dubby kindred spirit, Can’t See at All. By the time the more conventional Politics of Free rolls around prettily, there have been wah-wah pedals and wig-outs, indie rock and 60s pop, all flowing sinuously into one another, without the need for a crowbar.
