How to Survive In/In the Woods isn't the easiest CD to review, because to put it bluntly, it's not the easiest CD to listen to. How to Survive In/In the Woods is thirteen tracks of experimental, lo-fi, noisy folk music distorted and amplified beyond comprehension. The result is both beautiful and frightening, calming and disturbing, and ultimately one of the better releases of this year.
Woods is a two piece outfit that's said to have started at the foot of Bear Mountain, conceiving music in the wilderness of a vast forest with modern society just a mere concept. Dried out leaves that crack and break with the contact of your feet, rotting, hollow logs covered in moss, endless lakes that have yet to feel the burden and strain of humans; all images that enter your mind while listening to How to Survive In/In the Woods. This is the music of a lost civilization, of a people refusing to live in the confines of a traditional societal structural. This is not the way music should be made, but there is no other way for Woods to make it. Anyone that has an objection to that simply isn't getting the point.
The band itself is made up of two members of Meneguar, Christian and Jeremy. The indie rock influence can be seen throughout, but comparisons to any conventional structure of music end there. Originally released as a cassette by Jeremy's label Fuckit Tapes, Release the Bats has put the music on a more traditional CD version, although the sound has not been cleaned up that much from the original cassette version. While some may have objections to the rough production values, a polished sounding album would not do these songs justice.
The album opens up with "Holes," a rather normal sounding song compared to songs found later on in the album. Featuring an acoustic guitar and soft and somewhat high pitched vocals, the song is a good way to start off the album, as it intrigues you and makes you question what else the album has to offer without scaring you away. The album progresses more with "Silence is Golden," a very pretty and sad song that features the guitar and vocals competing with each other for room, making for a very distorted effect at times. The lyrics are very touching, as Jeremy and Christian sing:
When we meet now it's alright, but your eyes don't meet my eyes. I'm paranoid when you're around. When you talk I'll talk back, try my hardest to react, but I don't understand at all.
The album takes a disturbing turn a few songs later with "God Hates the Faithless," a noise laced track that features Woods seemingly screaming with the microphone inserted in their mouths, hell bent on startling the listener. If the Devil listens to music, this song is on his play list. The rest of the album features smoother sailing, with instrumental tracks, as well as the standout heartbreaker "Broke," a song about a poor man who spends the remainder of his money to see the girl he loves, even though he knows he is just a sucker as the girl refuses to sacrifice anything to see him.
How to Survive In/In the Woods may not be the most conventional album, and the production values may not be the best, but that isn't really the point. This is music stripped of its pretenses; the music begs to be judged for what it is, not for what it isn't. Woods is a fun band, a disturbing band, at times beautiful and at times ugly, but always pure and true. If Woods were born in the wilderness, let's hope they don't stray too far away.
