The Brooklyn band Woods has been releasing music steadily for 10 years. It has moved from shaggy and freaky to polished and crisp but still enigmatic.
Frontman and founder Jeremy Earl also runs the influential record label Woodsist, which releases the band’s material as well as showcasing some very interesting and under-appreciated fringe acts.
Earl sings in an expressive and airy high voice, with organ and bright guitars contributing to the lilting breezy feel. There’s bliss and sunshine in this music, but there’s also a kind of glare that serves as a form of distorting lens. Woods has a distinctive sound and is also pleasingly eclectic, with horns popping in on the new record, spongy reggae grooves, and sweet vocal harmonies. This is a band that can fuse a krautrock rhythm section with cascading psychedelic surf guitar lines and soft-rock vocals, where it all works. Woods released its most recent record, “City Sun Eater in the River of Light,” this spring.
Woods plays The Ballroom at the Outer Space, 295 Treadwell St., Hamden, Friday, Sept. 30, at 9 p.m. $15. 203-288-6400, thespacect.com.
