Bend Beyond;

Vinyl LP pressing. 2012 release, the seventh album from the Brooklyn-born Indie Folk band. For Bend Beyond, Woods got dark. It s not that they weren t dark before: when you really get in there and listen, Jeremy Earl is singing about some heavy stuff, but it s hidden under his gorgeous falsetto and sometimes obtuse lyrics. On Bend Beyond, though, Earl and company fully embrace that darkness. While previous albums sounded like they went directly from Earl s brain to tape with minimal outside interference, Bend Beyond is lush and full-bodied, the work of a band in perfect, heavy harmony. Listening to the record as a whole, it feels like the most daring leap Woods has made yet: It captures the band s live intensity, but keeps the intimate sadness that made them so great in the first place.