Woodsy Pride: Woodsy Pride

On this strong EP Brooklyn’s Woodsy Pride delivers a haunting and deeply American music. You can draw connections to Crazy Horse or certain periods of Dylan’s work or more recent purveyors of dusty rock like Jason Molina, but these don’t sound like songs made by students of music. When singer Bill Augustus howls out, “You and I were made for more than this,” and guitars swirl around him on the excellent “Apple Tree Ape Vine”, it’s clear that Woodsy Pride’s players make a sound that rises out of themselves. They align with a tradition only because the tradition was already, somehow, within them. So even if you feel like you’ve heard this kind of rolling, expansive rock music before, it’s hard not to get swept up in the shuffling layers of “As Always a Good Thing” or the moody space of “Autumn Rise”. In just five songs, Woodsy Pride leaves an impressive mark, giving us a set of songs that both takes its time and pulls us in immediately. This isn’t a grower so much as it will grow around you, taking on a striking sonic size. There are plenty of bands out there that draw their inspiration from the same set of rock legends these guys do, but know this — few of them sound as good, and as convincing in their own skins, as Woodsy Pride does here.