''Bend Beyond'' is the seventh album by the American band Woods, released in September 2012 by

Woodsist Woodsist is an American independent record label founded in 2006 by Jeremy Earl of the band Woods and based in Stone Ridge, New York. Artists * Alex Bleeker and the Freaks * Art Museums * The Babies * Blank Dogs * Blues Control * The Chris ...

and

Remote Control Records Remote Control Records was established in 2001 by Steve Cross and Harvey Saward. It provides publicity, label management, distribution and marketing services to international and local artists and labels. Remote Control's roster of internatio ...

. The album is the last to feature the band's bassist,

Kevin Morby Kevin Robert Morby (born 2 April 1988) is an American musician, singer, and songwriter. A former member of Woods (band), Woods and The Babies, Morby has released seven solo studio albums: ''Harlem River (album), Harlem River'' (2013), ''Still Li ...

Critical reception

''Bend Beyond'' received largely positive reviews from contemporary music critics. At

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, which assigns a

normalized Normalization or normalisation refers to a process that makes something more normal or regular. Science * Normalization process theory, a sociological theory of the implementation of new technologies or innovations * Normalization model, used in ...

rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an

average In colloquial, ordinary language, an average is a single number or value that best represents a set of data. The type of average taken as most typically representative of a list of numbers is the arithmetic mean the sum of the numbers divided by ...

score of 78, based on 21 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". Steven Hyden of

Pitchfork Media ''Pitchfork'' (formerly ''Pitchfork Media'') is an American online music magazine founded in 1996 by Ryan Schreiber in Minneapolis. It originally covered Alternative rock, alternative and independent music, and expanded to cover genres includin ...

gave the album a positive review, stating, "Fans of Woods' "spontaneous energy" might lament the relative straight-forwardness of ''Bend Beyond''. But Woods' greatest strength has always been songwriting, and sharpening the focus and cleaning up the production has only enhanced the band's welcoming melodies. Besides, it's about time this chronically undervalued group broadened its audience a bit. After ''Bend Beyond'', there are plenty of other great Woods records that await neophytes." Philip Cosores of

Paste Paste is a term for any very thick viscous fluid. It may refer to: Science and technology * Adhesive or paste ** Wallpaper paste ** Wheatpaste, a liquid adhesive made from vegetable starch and water * Paste (rheology), a substance that behaves as ...

praised the album, stating, "Where ''Bend Beyond'' is most successful is revealed in the album’s final two numbers. You can take away Woods’ undeniable chops and the trademark textures created by tape-effects wizard G. Lucas Crane, and Earl could still effectively elate listeners with the immediate infectiousness of a song like “Impossible Sky.” And, quickly moving from images of technicolor sunsets and evocations of the possibilities of youth, Earl closes on the haunting “Something Surreal,” where his unwavering, wordless falsetto brings the listener back to earth; the songs together run the gamut of human emotion in about five minutes. It's a brief culmination of practice making perfect, with Earl and his band showing why they make a new album every year—because more and more often they are getting it right." Billy Hamilton of Drowned in Sound was more critical of the album and its cohesiveness, stating, "In hindsight, front-loading the record with ''Bend Beyond'' probably wasn’t the smartest of steps for a band refashioning its image. Its formidable peak was always going to dominate handclapping toe-tappers like 'Lily'. Yet, there’s still a lot to admire here. As a whole, ''Bend Beyond'' is as full and broad as Woods have ever sounded. Sure, it lacks the adventure promised by its opening gambit, but this is a band shaping its ambitions at a gradual pace. As Jeremy Earl puts it: “It ain’t easy looking for different ways to make things stay the same”."

Track listing

Charts

References

2012 albums Woods (band) albums Woodsist albums {{2010s-folk-album-stub