Wooden Shjips (pronounced ships) have returned with their first album in five years, V., and it couldn’t have come at a better time: right as the summer sun is lengthening the days, people are enjoying being outside and hearing good music. There is a distinct summer vibe to this record, with shimmering keyboard and dripping guitar flourishes, meandering jams that stretch out into the colorful sky, and a charging yet unobtrusive rhythm section.
The feel of the music, the “summer vibe,” was a distinct choice made by guitarist Erik “Ripley” Johnson while putting the material together in the summer of 2017. From the press release on the group’s Bandcamp page: “We had huge forest fires just outside of Portland and there was intense haze and layers of ash in the city. I was sitting on my porch every evening, watching ash fall down like snow, the sky looking like it was on fire. It was an apocalyptic feeling. Summer in Portland is usually really chill and beautiful, and we were working on a ‘summer record’, but the outside world kept intruding on my headspace.” The music is soothing, a calming sedative against the chaotic world we’re living in.
Starting out with a crunchy driving song in “Eclipse”, the album saunters through laid-back groove after mellow stretch-out jam, with “In the Fall” slowing things down and letting Johnson really run wild over the rock-solid rhythm section of Omar Ahsanuddin and Dusty Jermir, not to mention the luminous, warm keyboard melodies of Nash Whalen. Moving back into road-trip gear, “Red Line” is perfect for just setting out on the road, the sun in your face and open road in front of you. Hazy vocals warble in and out of focus, never taking the emphasis off the music itself, only adding to the peaceful tone of the tunes.
Speaking of the peaceful tone, that’s not to say the songs don’t move forward with a sense of purpose, but the music never gets aggressive about it. Songs wind down their own paths, always ending up right where they need to be. You get the sense that some of these tunes could be roiling, surging jam numbers in a live setting, really letting the musicians work their chops, but the overarching theme of the music is peaceful, sunny, reverb-soaked psychedelia. It worms its way into your mind and just won’t leave.
Perfect for the warm months and long nights ahead, expect to hear V. at your next backyard BBQ, late-night garage beer session, or on the stereo as you pull out of your driveway to head out into the unknown, particularly lead single “Staring At the Sun”. It’s another one of those albums where once it starts, you’re just not going to stop listening, so strap in, put on some rose-colored glasses, throw a flower in your hair, and drop out.
Rating 9 out of 10
