​The Wood Brothers (from the album Puff of Smoke

​The Wood Brothers (from the album Puff of Smoke

​The Wood Brothers (from the album Puff of Smoke available on Honey Jar Records/Thirty Tigers) (by Danny McCloskey)


The opening story salvo issued by The Wood Brothers that begins the song cycle on their recent release, Puff of Smoke, is not a resume. The one-liner story claims paint a picture of the band in “Witness”, listing all the possible occupation options available, and ending each reading of job titles with the line ’I’m just a witness’. Moving through a spinning wheel of musical diversity, The Wood Brothers stay true to their own traditions of delivering songs that fit perfectly into the brand the band has developed over the course of nine studio albums. While the sonic backing of the tracks varies, song lyrics have maintained a steady stream of subtle wisdom, constructed with a combination of wit and clear-eyed observations. They remove the comma (used as a full word in the song as ‘pray, God listens’) to offer “Pray God Listens”, reversing the request as a prayer of its own. A tangle of notes begin enter the title track before the strings become the rhythm for the tune. The lyrics define the purpose of the album, with frontman/songwriter Oliver Wood citing ‘we're not in control and that can be good news’. Puff of Smoke speaks to the idea of letting go and taking the ride’.
Three instruments provide the majority of the musical backing for The Wood Brothers, with brothers Oliver and Chris Wood taking charge of guitar and bass respectively, while the third acoustic guitar is used solely as a vehicle for the rhythms of the band as Jano Rix plays the hollow body like a bongo. A molasses slow groove questions real life visions as fodder for fantasy in “Is It Up to You” while multi-instrumentalist Jano Rix provides the signature sound for “The Trick” by experimenting with a Fender Rhodes pushed through distortion and octave pedals. Dreamy sounds drift over the opening sonics of “Above All Others”, carrying the arrangement of the track across a carousel organ-style haze of music as sharp-edged guitar notes begin the tale in “Slow Rise (to the middle)” while capitalism bounces on a cherry beat of “Money Song” and The Wood Brothers exit Puff of Smoke on the somber strains of “Till the End”. (by Danny McCloskey)
 
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