By Ruud Peters
Woodsman is a musical project that started in Denver when two separate two-man bands merged. Trevor Peterson (guitars) and Eston Lathrop (drums) already played together for years and in 2007 they came up with the Woodsman moniker. Around that time they met Mark Demolar (guitar) and Dylan Schoemaker (drums). 2008 was mainly used for jamming but at the end of the year, when the original duo Trevor and Eston managed to book some live shows for Woodsman it was clear that Mark and Dylan would join on stage as well: ‘a new and improved version of Woodsman’ as they called it.
In April 2009 the foursome released their first EP Humdrum and later that year followed by their first full album Collages, mainly written in the Colorado mountains.
So far this little history, now fast forward to 2014 and Woodsman latest release the self-titled Woodsman. Now reduced to a trio (drummer Eston left the band and is only present on the final track), this third fully fledged album appears on one of their own labels Fire Talk.
It brings on a 9 track collection of instrumental psychedelic ‘jams’ (more about that later) and although the guys relocated in 2011 to Brooklyn the music still has that feeling of outside nature. Picture some lumberjackers gathered around the fire to relax after a hard day’s work, maybe smoking some weed or consuming other substances (mushrooms) found that day.
After a short dissonant intro ‘Pre’, ‘Gravelines’ kicks in with some pulsating rhythms and clean but hypnotizing guitars bringing the psychedelic space-rock vibe to the front. The overall sound is quite layered with intoxicating guitars, spacy keys, a driving sometimes tribal-like drumbeat and some nice uplifting melodies here and there. But there is something missing here and this feeling sadly doesn’t go away as the record progresses.
Now what’s wrong then ? Well, for me the album lacks a certain direction. It all sounds like a bunch of down-edited jams. The longest piece on the album ‘Loose Leaf’ only clocks at 6:09 and that’s certainly too short to experience something of a psychedelic trip. ‘Teleseparation’ is another good example: as soon as the band creates a nice jam-vibe (at last !) they fade out the track at once, aaahhh too bad. This fragmented approach gives the album in the end a rather monotonous sound and that’s a shame as the musical ideas are in essence very nice.
With a more, traditional approach to the psych-style (groovy, lengthy jams) Woodsman could bring in a lot more to the fire.
Gentlemen, (re)start your engines and let the spaceship float again.
