EDISON WOODS
"Edison Woods"
(CD, european edit, Borderdreams, 2004)
Strange and mischievous, Edison Woods is a band of villains with a soft spot for love songs. They tell their tales with strings and piano, baritone sax, silver guitars, seductive drums, and heaven’s vocal harmonies. Their music evokes a fevered futureland, one of glowing birdcages, and other lost items.
Described by critics as "warm blanketing lullaby sounds for starry winter evenings", Edison Woods' debut recording is marked by slow and drifting melodies, subtle musical textures and quiet contemplations.
The songs and lyrics are written by Julia Frodahl, and inspired mostly by handwritten letters between friends.
Released in North America in February 2002, these first wanderings of Edison Woods were written in the cold of winter in the year 2000. Julia was then living in a renovated horse stable in Brooklyn, where she and her collaborators played in scarves and wooly caps and open-fingered biker gloves.
PRESS REVIEWS
"The sounds on the Edison Woods debut self-titled disc conjure up rather dark and sensual tones, with windswept vocals, sparse, echoed guitars, and odd electronic hums. Though the band's harmonies resemble the swelling tunefulness of Low, Edison Woods sound is slightly more developed in its use of strings and keys. Where the bands most closely match wits is in the lush interplay of heavenly vocals and fine guitar. Julia Frodahl's voice is at times frighteningly delicate, as though it would crack at any moment. To be sure, it never does; it only reaches forward in the softest, most intense manner. Numerous poetic references abound, characterizing the work as highly literate and contemplative. And the lyrics maintain an emotional distance from the music itself, letting the feelings that the sounds evoke overstep any interpretations the words may undergo. A number of the tracks sound quite familiar as the disc carries on but regardless there are still a few outstanding ones. City Lights instantly nods to the Mekons (Journey to the End of the Night) where the Mekons drove though a mist of electronics and country-esque twang. Vivian is also beautifully eerie in its execution, its minor scale melody a haunting experience. Where the band melds its knack for mysterious melody with Frodahl's provocative voice is where Edison Woods truly excels. This record is a reserved and gorgeous first outing for this New York City combo."
(ALLMUSIC.COM. February 2002. KEN TAYLOR)  "That the popularity of a band is not equivalent to the quality of its music, is no Mystery. Why however up to now no one heard of New Yorkers Edison Woods, I myself cannot explain. More beautifully than Vivian, sadness can hardly sound. Quite tenderly, as if there is a band rehearsing in the floor above you, so carefully, as if it does not want to trouble anybody with noise. There is this unknown beauty, she is mysterious and fragile and you can't imagine nothing else than: she must be adorable. Very pretty and pale and often ill. She's wearing little make-up and she plays these chords on her piano. Bass and drums are played by friends, and the room is dusty and in twilight but cleared up. But you do not know everything, and you will of course never become acquainted with her, but it is also o.k. like that. You only turn down the television whenever they play and hope that they will never become famous, because they are your little secret."
(TONSPION MAGAZINE , Germany, january, 2002. By KATHARINA O.)
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