Out Of The Woods

…Woods is Swiss artist Beat Soler’s third album and the follow up release to last year’s Silvercity Bob album. While Soler’s second long player concerned itself with the trials and misadventures of a trumpet-playing rabbit (!), ‘Woods’ sees Soler decamp to Los Angeles, assembling a strange and wonderful cast in the process. Ghetto kid Michael Smith crops up on recent single ‘Manila’ to tell the tragic tale of a plane crash, there’s a cinematic jazz fusion masquerading as an old Doors staple on ‘LA Woman’ and an old person’s dancing revue makes an appearance on the doo wop vocals of ‘Dancing Grandma’. Held together by jazzy keys, atmospheric sounds and relaxed, understated rhythms, it’s beguilingly beautiful head music.