You’re more than welcome, of course, to read my additional commentary on this matter, but if you just want the gist of it, all you need to know is that Hush Arbors‘ new eponymous record is a scorcher! It laid my ghetto blaster to waste.
I already expected Keith Wood’s (a.k.a. Hush Arbors) debut for Ecstatic Peace to valiantly score from the three-point line. I had a chance to see him play a great opening set for pal and collaborator Six Organs of Admittance circa late 2005, so I thought I understood what I was getting into. Turns out I was wrong. I did not expect Hush Arbors, just released Tuesday, to be a comprehensively destructive force of mysticism replete with melodic beauty and modal explorations.
Hush Arbors, as far as the whole freak folk/New Weird America thing goes (I begrudgingly use this term), has always struck me as the obvious choice for ambassador of the aforementioned movement, as he offers the perfect median point for the disparate sounds found therein. Wood’s take on psychedelic folk demonstrates that it is not necessarily his intent to destroy strong structures, nor is it his intent to play it straightforward and traditional. However, Hush Arbors has gone above and beyond comparison to similar artists. It’s no longer fair to say “this is a great offering from the New Weird America camp,” it’s only befitting to describe this self-titled record as a monumental collection of music that stands up against any album, anywhere. I’m not trying to overhype this really, but Hush Arbors rules so hard. Hush Arbors’ adventurous, wide-ranging sonic paintbrush invokes the past whilst thrusting the very notion of folk rock into future territories. In short, Keith Wood just dropped the type of album that separates the men from the boys. Continue reading ‘Hush Arbors Releases a Scorcher’
