Amanda Emblem doesn’t write albums so much as she accumulates them. She works through songs like they’re assignments, letting them pile up until something has to be done. That process drives The Wood, a collection written off-grid in a beach town. The album sounds more shaped by time spent off-grid than by any concern for the industry clock.
The album opens and closes with two versions of the same idea. “Hanging Flute” is the instrumental take, built around a minor-key groove with vintage swagger. Its vocal counterpart, “Hanging Rock,” nods to the unsettling ambiguity of its namesake, full of reverb and unease. In between, Emblem moves through acoustic blues, soft folk, light reggae, and singalong storytelling. Her fingerpicking carries the lead single “Storm in My Life,” where relationship metaphors sneak in under bright rhythms and harmonica fills. Tracks like “Calm Seas” and “Lazy Sunday” pull back the energy, giving room for slide guitar and layered harmonies.
The title track, written at a kitchen table from salvaged pine, reflects the same wood used to build the guitar that plays it. It’s a quiet standout, and one of the only songs where the concept folds back on itself in a complete loop. Elsewhere, she writes about staircases, dingoes, and the sea with a mix of clarity and intuition that avoids overreaching.
The Wood doesn’t push to be anything more than what it is: a direct record from someone who’s more interested in playing than polishing. Its charm is in that lack of posture.
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