The duo that makes up New York-based indie rock band Tucker Woods are clearly adaptable. As they settled into recording Sunshine Blues, their sophomore effort, the studio they were recording in caught fire. So, they pivoted to a pretty inspired fallback plan, recording in the home of their co-producer’s grandmother.
There were clearly no missteps in the transition from an actual professional recording studio to Nana’s house as the album comes across as a solid exercise in good-to-great rock music drawing influences seemingly from the likes of Oasis, The Kinks and Mott The Hoople – all sieved through a modern indie rock filter. At 14 tracks, the record is a tad long but includes some of their best songs so far. The album opens on “The Ballad Of Captain Pat & The Spooky Rock Lagoon.” And goofy title aside, it’s a pretty impressive laid-back foot-stomping track with trippy lyrics worthy of Toys In The Attic-era Aerosmith. It’s followed by “Somersault,” a fun, catchy ’60s-inspired rock number that, as bassist/keyboardist Brian Motel rightly admits, would fit nicely onto a Quentin Tarantino soundtrack.Â
There are a few numbers here that are not as accessible, like the plodding “Are You Glass?,” one of the album’s early singles (also, the two instrumental Interludes do little more than slow the momentum of the record). But the band manages to get back in control and pull the listener right back in with a song like “(Detective Fitz & The Case Of) Chicken Coop Smoot,” another goofy song that manages to be surprisingly enjoyable, as well as the more traditional indie rock/pop numbers like “Right On Time” and “!Pura Vida!”
The album closes on “Clap Yer Hands! (Ya Know It’s Alright!),” an impressively catchy song as good as any that precedes it, and “…Goodbye Spooky Rock Lagoon,” (another instrumental that just seems unnecessary). With a few trims, Sunshine Blues goes from being a good album to a great one.
