Today’s Therapy: Wooden Shjip’s Back To Land

Welcome back for yet another addition of Thursday Therapy! It is my great pleasure to introduce Wooden Shjips.

Taking a peek at the album cover (the full picture, compared to the true album cover found below), we see the Pink Floyd-style prism as well as the Grateful Dead lightning bolt in the mishmash of vibrant colours which is reminiscent of the Yellow Submarine animation by The Beatles. With a great appreciation for psychedelic rock, I decided to hop on board and listen to this 8 track album.

First off, have a listen to my favourite entitled “These Shadows” where vocalist and guitarist, Ripley Johnson, indulges in experimental drone rock by using a constant easy-going background and softly weaving in and out of guitar solos. As someone who goes to Phish every year at Saratoga Springs, I really enjoyed hearing a guitar with a similar solo style. I always enjoy riffs half-finishing on bends only to bring in more run-downs.

To complete the picture, Nash Whalen adds the organ giving us the title track “Back To Land”. Something I thought was funny while checking out the band’s website was that they self-describe this album as having “an increased brightness” compared to previous releases. If this is the case, then I will gladly look back to West (2011) to hear how they have evolved in the past couple years. It’s always a good idea to learn the roots of newer albums.

I’ll leave you all in “Ruins”, as you sit back and enjoy a familiar sound. Hope you enjoyed Wooden Shjips. Remember never close The Doors on a band until you hear the full album!

– Karly D