Woods’ latest album was written and recorded in response to the US election. At first, its loose elegance seems as inappropriate as a waltz around the slaughterhouse, but gradually these six songs accumulate power from their stubbornly sunny defiance. Jeremy Earl’s songwriting is as strong as on last year’s City Sun Eater in the River of Light, and his psychedelic folk-pop band manage to sound forward-looking. Baleful horns add notes of horror to the wide-eyed optimism, particularly during the elegiac detour of Spring Is in the Air. By the time of the final reprise, there’s urgency to the mantra “say that love is love”.
