Prog

WOODEN SHJIPS

West Coast proggers on fire.

- PW

What a long, strange trip it’s been for these West Coast dreamers. This album was recorded in the summer of 2017 as the outskirts of Portland threatened to burn to the ground and the ash of the wildfires fell on the band and the city like dirty snow. However, Wooden Shjips attempted to not let the adverse conditions harsh their mellow. The gentle Staring At The Sun might reference the layers of ash and the licks of flame, but it does so through such a beautifull­y woozy sheen of blooming colours and tripped-out oscillatin­g guitars that the threat of being engulfed by the flames seems very, very far away. Truth be told, most of V makes you feel like you’re happily floating just off the face of the earth. All of the band’s familiar tropes are here: Neil Young, The Doors,

The Velvet Undergroun­d (at their most dazed) and Soft Machine all play their part in a record that’s gentle and densely layered. V is forever giving up licks of melody, with each listen revealing lovely, elongated refrains that float upwards into the light, just like the curls of smoke that finally dissipated over Portland must have done last year.

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