Woodsist US Vinyl & CDs

Review: The second album by American singer-songwriter Anna St. Louis, In The Air is a bright-sidedly accessible eleven-tracker, and a comparatively optimistic affair to her much dourer debut, If Only There Was A River. We hear every influence from Baez to Young to Mitchell on this clear and photosynthetic country-folk quartz, which draws on themes of liberation and open-heartedness, and routinely finds such wondrous feeling-spaces by drawing on the mood of her most recent move: to a remote one-bedroom log cabin in an upstate New York wilderness.

Review: Some 20 years into their existence, Brooklyn band Woods are truly in control of their destiny. Headed up by Jeremy Earl, this twelfth studio album took shape from his loops which were then passed around the other band members to build upon, with guitarist Jarvis Taveniere piecing the end results together. It's a kaleidoscopic listen which folds in easy listening whimsy, brain-fried psychedelia and pastoral wonder - all impressive for a band more typically associated with New York. Already widely hailed as one of their finest works, this vinyl edition comes via the band's own Woodsist label.