Woods' new album is dark, deep and worthy of repeated listens

So far, the collected works of Brooklyn band Woods have been dreary to say the least. Still, moments of malaise can yield earnest work; you write when you’re hurt, right? But on the new With Light and With Love (Woodsist), oft-downtrodden guitarist/singer Jeremy Earl sounds like a man turning things around. Starting simply, with a lap steel guitar melody and crisp snare-drum brushing, opening number “Shepherd” evokes feelings of standing amid tall prairie grasses instead of subways and smokestacks. Things get more complicated from there.

Woods has never been afraid of extended improv jams. The nine-minute “September with Pete,” from 2009’s Songs of Shame, left a layer of psychedelic dew on the ground until Sun and Shade cleaned it up in 2011 with the guitar freak-out of “Out of an Eye.” With Light and With Love’s exploratory and just-craggy-enough title track has a leg up on those songs by virtue of being more structurally sound. Basically, they never get too jangly when things are peaking and valleying. Appreciating these extended journeys — a staple of their live shows — isn’t about flexing some musical taste muscle. It’s about appreciating the conversational interplay of four guys on the same stage and the same page.

“Leaves Like Glass,” is the warm blanket Earl is happy to share, reassuring the listeners there are brighter suns to come, yet asking realistically, “Is it enough to unwind?” before the neo-psych song “Twin Steps.” The band travels back to familiar terrain on the heart-string-tugging “Full Moon,” keeping the pop hooks but employing new devices. Is that a string section in the back? Yes, and it comes back on the way out with “Feather Man.” Whether mining the mournful or traversing the headspace, Woods always demand repeat listens.

Fri., April 25, 8:30 p.m., $12, with Quilt, Boot & Saddle, 1131 S. Broad St., 267-639-4528, bootandsaddlephilly.com.