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The Wooden Sky: Let's Be Ready

Slowly but surely Toronto-based band The Wooden Sky have been building their brand of rousing heartland rock with throwback indie rock revivalism, but it all seems to be nicely culminated with their fourth full-length album Let's Be Ready, mixing stripped-down acoustic passages with full-on, sing-along, rock-out moments.

Jun 15, 2015 • 1 min read

Slowly but surely Toronto-based band The Wooden Sky have been building their brand through a series of independent releases that smartly blend elements of rousing heartland rock with throwback indie rock revivalism. Over seven years and a series of albums and EPs, they have played with many fellow Canadian artists, including members of Timber Timbre, Ohbijou, The Arcade Fire, Elliott Brood & Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra. But it all seems to be nicely culminated with their new, fourth full-length album, Let's Be Ready, mixing stripped-down acoustic passages with full-on, sing-along, rock-out moments. As singer Gavin Gardiner croons in one of the album's centerpieces, "Our Hearts Were Young (It's All the Same to Me)," "Come on, let you freak flag fly for me and sing a brand new melody." While echoing bands like My Morning Jacket and The War on Drugs, they clearly take their own words to heart, anchoring the songs with familiar, comforting folk rock tropes, while making an ever-increasingly confident stand for their own signatures: spacious rockers, dynamic emotional perspectives and Gardiner's bittersweet, but earnest vocals.

-Eric J. Lawrence

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