Angela Wood

Location: Los Angeles
Sub-Genre: Country Rock

Hear the Music




Review:

There are very few unsigned artists out there talking about the “craft” of songwriting. That kind of talk is normally relegated to music writers, who only break it out on songsters like Leanord Cohen or Tom Waits. So when Angela Wood told me she’d spent years studying the craft of songwriting, I was both suprised and not surprised.

The truth about Angela Wood is that she IS a crafty songwriter. She’s both witty and candid, honest and sassy. The first song I heard of her’s was called “Old Guitar,” which reminded me of Ben Harper’s “Diamond’s On The Inside.” It’s a well written country yarn about getting involved with a man with a reputation for womanizing. In it her voice was both pleading and playful, aching and angry. Gosh it’s a subtle thing, but I couldn’t decide if I wanted to hug her or hi-five her.

Though there’s a serious country slant to her singing style, she says she wants to be like Bonnie Raitt “because she doesn’t have a genre.” She achieves this sort of “out of the box” mostly though her lyricism. My biggest problem with most country songs is the abhorent lack of symbolism more complicated than a simile; Angela is neither afraid nor unacquainted with metaphor. Listen to “Don’t Need Me Now” and “Lost Myself” for a taste of this. She states things both simply and poetically- not heady or cerebral, just intelligent. I’ll take that from a lyricist anyday.

The truth about Angela Wood is she is a truly prolific melodicist. Most artists keep safely to there signature stylings, but Angela has a surprising and haunting hook in every one of her tunes. You can usually find it in the main chorus melody, but in “Get It Right,” you can hear several more in the background vocals- she layers hooky snippets on top of the big hook, and the physical response it requires is pressing the “repeat” button.

So here’s where I stop being impressed, and start just being jealous. The truth about Angela Wood is that she’s a singer. Not like Faith Hill or Shania Twain; Angela’s voice is riddled with nuance and vulnerability. In one moment she’ll sound almost weak, and the next she’ll burst into a sassy country belt, which you can hear in “Don’t Touch My Man.” She consistently surprises me, and I’m willing to bet she’ll surprise you too.

The truth about Angela Wood is that she’s an honest to goodness undiscovered startlett, and I’m honestly excited to watch her career blossom.