The Woods

Channeling influences that stretched from abrasive post-punk to delicate rural folk, the Woods lingered on the fringes of New York’s mid-1980s underground. The quartet performed only a few concerts and issued a lone 45, “Miracles Tonight,” in 1985 before vanishing without notice. Their complete recordings, gathered on the 2023 anthology So Long Before Now, reveal a distinctive approach to homemade jangle pop that wove together hallucinatory vocal blends, the sustained hum of post-Velvet Underground textures, and gentle, nearly brittle tunes, resulting in music that felt both prescient and enduring.

Guitarist and principal songwriter Linda Smith relocated from Baltimore to New York City in 1984 alongside Peggy Bitzer. Together they recruited drummer Brian Bendlin, whose tastes aligned with the lean, self-reliant style of the Raincoats and the Slits as well as the shadowy folk-psych of Fairport Convention and Pentangle. Cellist Steven Cheslik-DeMeyer completed the lineup, and the musicians adopted the name the Woods. Lacking formal training or scene affiliations, the four members treated their collective inexperience as license for open-ended exploration. The resulting sound merged stark, cello-driven art-rock reminiscent of the Velvet Underground with harmonically lush folk-pop whose melodies and singing conveyed quiet vulnerability. Although Smith composed the bulk of the material, the entire group shaped the arrangements.

Unable to fit prevailing categories or local movements, the band struggled for traction. Live appearances were limited to a handful of dates at CBGB’s, the Pyramid Club, and Maxwell’s, yet those shows convinced Mark Dumais to release the 1985 single “Miracles Tonight” / “Love Me Again This Summer” on his Justine label. The record attracted favorable underground coverage and college-radio rotation across the Northeast, prompting an appearance on Yale’s WYBC. The group next attempted a full-length album, recording intermittently at Fun City whenever funds allowed. The project remained unfinished, and in 1987 the members parted ways, citing reluctance to perform live, frustration at securing a contract, and a preference for solitary home recording. Smith and Bitzer continued briefly as Girls Ranch, while Bendlin and Cheslik-DeMeyer formed Trouble Picnic, later Two Houses, and composed for theater. Smith went on to issue numerous home-recorded albums that earned widespread praise during the 1990s and collaborated extensively with other artists.

The Woods stayed an obscure reference point until Dot Matrix, an imprint of Sundazed, issued So Long Before Now in 2023, presenting the 1985 single alongside all surviving tracks from the abandoned studio sessions.