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May 21, 2020Strange to Explain sounds like the result of carefully considered choices in songwriting and production. Without losing the unfiltered emotion that makes them so compelling, Woods reach a new maturity with these songs. Fifteen years into a tirelessly curious evolution, the band sound more comfortable and surefooted here than ever before.
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MojoJul 21, 2020This third-eye-for-the-folk-guy makeover suits them well, its 11 tracks filled with space and light. [Sep 2020, p.94]
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May 26, 2020If you were a fan of their mid-2000’s work, this album would be a very satisfying continuation of their sound while also mixing in enough new ideas for it to be a progressive album for the group.
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May 22, 2020The excellent Strange to Explain, acts as a course correction. Where Love Is Love was filled with mantras and positive affirmations, Earl is now quick to admit that wishing away darkness doesn't guarantee its departure.
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Q MagazineMay 21, 2020A sublime tonic. [Jul 2020, p.113]
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UncutMay 21, 2020Strange To Explain might be about dreaming and escape but it's also about their limitations, our need for hoke and the importance of other people. [Jun 2020, p.31]
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May 27, 2020The record represents a roaring comeback for the band at a moment to which their sound is particularly well-suited.
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May 27, 2020The record wanders amongst the warm thickets of Woods’ discography like an explorer: coming across new worlds and sensations without judgement or fear, but instead, equipped with an eye for the beautifully difficult—those things in life that test us, that make us pure.
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May 28, 2020For the most part, the songs are compact, with only the closing instrumental, “Weekend Wind,” passing the six-minute mark. Jeremy Earl’s falsetto is at its most confident and versatile, gliding over tunes that explore the headspace newfound fatherhood has brought him.
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May 26, 2020What starts out as a great Woods record unfortunately peters out towards the end. Regardless, Woods have assembled a worthy “comeback” album of sorts, one that highlights all of their best moments, and even some of their more forgettable ideas.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 8 out of 9
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Mixed: 0 out of 9
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Negative: 1 out of 9
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May 22, 2020
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Sep 5, 2020
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Jun 1, 2020