Eric Wood's music is a night-club hybrid, owing as much to jazz and blues as to folk and rock. These songs are populated by notey electric guitar improvisations, wailing saxophones, and slinky bass runs, but there are also acoustic guitar-strummed tunes that delve into the folk realm, as well as rock & roll power chords. It is a conscious effort to disregard categorization. Any genre is fair game. As long as its smoky, urban, dark, and pained, it's alright with
Wood. His lyrics are searing in their honesty and willingness to probe into the darker regions of the soul. They have a free-ranging experimental quality that is reminiscent of beat or performance poetry. Like his songwriting,
Wood's vocals are multifaceted and mercurial. He seems constantly to be experimenting with his voice, now growling
Leonard Cohen-like, now soaring into a
Jeff Buckley wail, now mumbling like
Bob Dylan, now smoothing into a
Roy Orbison baritone. It would be easy for an artist this given to innovation to let all semblance of melody dissolve into the mix, but
Wood's songs are always grounded by discernible melodic throughlines. It takes skill to be this daring stylistically and still communicate successfully to the listener.
Letters From the Earth is an impressive and intimate collection of songs. ~ Evan Cater