Inventions - Maze of Woods

Inventions- the collaboration between longtime friends Mark T. Smith (Explosions In The Sky)  and Matthew Cooper (Eluvium) - has released their second album in eleven months with the sprawling Maze of Woods.  The album was mixed in a house on the Oregon coastline.

Inventions have stated that much of the inspiration for Maze of Woods comes from the closing paragraph of Denis Johnson's novel Train Dreams.

 'Johnson describes the nonverbal howl of a feral wolf boy, a pre-language that is yearning and instinctual; a statement of wordless distress and love. Maze of Woods is the product of two masters of their craft getting lost in the wilderness, "doing something that they don't know how to do," and emerging with something wholly unexpected and beguilingly beautiful.'

Maze of Woods runs from strength to strength.  At once incantation then invocation.  Some of the stronger collaborations include Peregrine, Springworlds, Moanmusic and the slow brillliant album closer Feeling The Sun Thru The Earth At Night.

The sound resembles something vaguely like Panda Bear or his Animal Collective lot but also bares a resemblance to something vaguely baroque like Fleet Foxes.  Overall the sound is gauzy, layered, moving with a sense of space and openness.