Sherwood: A Different Light

There are countless bands today riding the melodic coat-tails of what was once punk rock. Among the better half of these young bands is Sherwood. After forming in 2002, Sherwood left their base in California to tour the country and release two E.P's and two albums, each of which was on a different label. Long gone are the days of physically selling their albums in malls (and often getting kicked out for not having a selling permit); Sherwood is now aligned with the most popular networking and music sharing website in the world: MySpace. They have found a label home on the newly-formed MySpace Records, and it seems to be a good fit for them. After five years of steady growth, Sherwood has released a solid effort in "A Different Light." This up-beat collection of tracks is a strong release from a band who has certainly earned respect and paid their dues.

"A Different Light" is very well produced which allows the quality of these songs to shine. At times Sherwood's music flows in the vein of Relient K and Mae but a couple of tracks sound very similar to Ben Gibbard's Postal Service. Although Sherwood wrote most of this album in the late fall, they were able to perfectly capture the sound and feel of summer. Sherwood cites the Beach Boys as one of their prime influences, and there is certainly an air of a breezy surfer's summer flowing through this album. Lyrically Sherwood is pretty light on this release. True to form most songs on this effort are about love and relationships. These tracks are likely to fall under the "cute" label with lines like, "I wish I had a plane or a cable car 'cause all I really want is to be in your arms." Though nothing deep or ground-breaking, Sherwood is sure to please their fans with these attractive melodies.

My primary critique of "A Different Light" is that it seems a bit formulaic at times. The songs themselves are not necessarily weak, but they begin to sound repetitive after a while. I'd like to see them be a bit more daring in the future, but this album solidifies that they definitely have a future.

Rating out of 4 Stars: * * 1/2