Woods' impeccably timed sixth record, Sun & Shade, rivals many of the warm '60s classics theyve been channeling since 2005. Crisp folk ballads, extended psych-burners, and sad, incisive pop lyrics-- some of frontman Jeremy Earls most thoughtful and audible to date-- float between the album's titular tropes: "sun" for pop, "shade" for the rest. Decked in clean reverb, mid-tempo opener Pushing o­nlys offers steady rays of beaming folk-rock, with Earl singing about a new day and the slipping of time. There are images of tattered clothes and crystal skies, and you can practically see a tire swing swaying to the slow thump of the drum in some distant and invincible summertime utopia. The forward-moving rocker Any Other Day is, similarly, all blue skies, which makes sense: Sun & Shade is the first Woods album recorded at the hidden Woodsist HQ in tiny, wooded, Warwick, NY.

Out of the Eye is a seven-minute piece of noisy but meditative motorik improv, underpinned by a steady guitar drone. The slower, stripped down-folk of Be All Be Easy and Wouldnt Waste is quiet and pristine, and a testament to the bands improved home-fi technique. While weve recently witnessed a mass indie exodus from bedroom to studio, Woods have simply gotten better at home recording.

The records best track, Who Do I Think I Am?, recalls the campfire pop of the band's earliest recordings, albeit cloaked in the introspective thought trap of a dark baladeer. Earl delivers a lonesome, country-tinged narrative with '50s boy-pop charm, perpetually calling himself out for blaming his sorrow o­n someone else. Over acoustic strums and subtle, electric guitar shine, Earl thinks out loud and walks alone, singing, Who am I to be runnin' around,/ puttin' anyone but my own self down? Whether the sentiment is fictional or not, it's striking to hear the ever-mysterious Earl sing something so gut-wrenchingly open and palpably desperate. For all the songs self-doubt-- and all the band's celestial psych and neo-hippie vibes-- its refreshing to hear a band thats not at war with its own identity.

------------------------------------------

CD, LP , .