If 2017 was the year of protest music (yep, yep, and yep), music in 2018 is already serving an antithetical purpose — to relax and soothe rather than to enrage and agitate. For veteran psych quartet Wooden Shjips, the name of their new album V. went further than Roman-numerating their fifth effort. We all know the “V” sign as the hippie symbol for peace (sorry, Thomas Pynchon fans).
If may sound sooo West Coast, but consider that the “V” originated with Winston Churchill, and in his famous “V for victory” speech, invoked the gesture to resist tyranny. Sound familiar? Hmm…maybe that’s because that’s how we can use it in today’s circumstances too.
Either way: V. is out May 25 on Thrill Jockey and pre-orderable now on CD and LP — although surely you can hear some of the new material earlier when Wooden Shjips weigh anchor at this year’s annual Levitation psych fest in Austin.
But first, for your listening pleasure: preview the epic 8-minute track “Staring at the Sun,” a perfect complement to your next microdose. Like, peace, man.
V. tracklisting:
01. Eclipse
02. In The Fall
03. Red Line
04. Already Gone
05. Staring At The Sun
06. Golden Flower
07. Ride On
More about: Wooden Shjips
