With scene stalwarts Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr lining up in fervent support, ‘Yankee Reality’ is Keith Wood’s second Ecstatic Piece album after last year’s revelatory eponymous release.
Wood has taken his ghostly acid-fried folk-rock and bolted both feral garage and a carnal jangle to this Exocet of ideas. He manages to cajole J Mascis into overseeing production duties, while nudging His Slothness to knock out a ferocious riff on ‘For While You Slept’, which sounds like gloriously mangled Byrds.
‘Take It Easy’ is even better – a warped, honky tonk singalong, akin to a long-lost ‘Revolver’ track. Rarely has reality been as exciting.
8/10
Words by John Freeman
