WOODEN SHJIPS

Wooden Shjips’ fourth full album is the first to be recorded outside of San Francisco (after Ripley Johnson and Omar Ahsanuddin moved to Oregon) and though the record remains as true to the band as any other, the influence of this move is more evident throughout the record than one might expect at first.

Flailing drones and fuzzy tentacles of whispering feedback reach far beyond the realms of many others who choose the device of freaking out through repetition, but more than any other Wooden Shjips album, this is firmly grounded on Earth. Of course, there’s no denying passages like the Star Gate guitar blackhole and Close Encounters-whirr of Ghouls and the throttling gallop of Other Stars, but the use of untamed, organic guitar solos in the title track recall such vintage artists as Neil Young, and the excessive use of the electric organ and even acoustic guitars give a hazy, sandy flavour to the record. This is no more evident than on album closer Everybody Knows, a track that on some other planet might even be considered as a tender pop ballad.

Other highlights include centrepiece These Shadows, a solemn and downbeat centrepiece of droning chords and tearful licks that drip a yearning love all over Johnson’s murmured vocals. It ranks amongst some of the most beautiful pieces the band have ever conceived, and with the track sweetly erupting through a tambourine rhythm at the climax it manages to hit all the buttons for a perfect trip.

The flaw with Back To Land is in its very nature: with the tracks set out in such a natural flow of space- desert spiralling it’s easy to get lost, and inevitably some tracks stand out as great peaks, while others drift past as mere mirages. As always, though, it’s the adventure you’ll remember.

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Words: James Balmont