Information/Write-up
At the beginning of one of the tracks on this new offering from Toronto duo Woodhands, a repeated and failed attempt to make some computerized gizmo do as it’s told elicits a frustrated “Fuck this machine, man.” And that struggle between the animal and the mechanical is part of what makes Woodhands great. This is clearly electronic music but it’s also terrifically alive. Both agro and funny, frequently at the same time, all these songs manage reto feel really genuine even when singer Dan Werb is screaming stuff like “Why do they hate our band? Can’t they tell we are trying to survive? We can see the judgment in their eyes, so come on, motherfucker, come on!” Similarly, Paul Banwatt pounds the shit out of the real live drums in a way that you just know makes the sequencers embarrassed to have to try to compete with him.
-Richard Rosenbaum
Ever have a former significant other disappear and then come back with a new, hotter, superstar mate? The superstar yearns to go to a dance club, but it still has that unmistakable, gritty edge. And yet, you are jealous for a reason other than revenge: you want to be them. On Remorsecapade, Dan Werb and Paul Banwatt get past their first wave of confidence from 2008's Heart Attack to find an even stronger one. Werb's voice and Banwatt's drumming have become a force to be reckoned with, eschewing all ex-flames. Werb fills the space with his newly multiplied synths and Banwatt finds a way to put his fascination for electronic percussion into the acoustic. Their formula pushes the boundaries of dance rock, convincing it to go places that mainstream artists never visit. At the end of the night, everyone's sweaty and their heartbreak has been mended with a few dance moves. (Paper Bag)
-Jessica Lewis, Jan 22, 2010, exclaim.ca
Woodhands is back with a stimulating plethora of darker, energetic dance tracks. Remorsecapade dives deeper into the emotional territory of Heart Attack, painting strangely compelling portraits of lost souls inhabiting the late night abyss of dance clubs (‘I Should Have Gone With My Friends’), sweaty hand-holding (‘Pockets’), and – of course – heartbreak, here described as ‘doubling’. The songs of Remorsecapade run from the deceptive bubble gum pop arrangement of ‘Dissembler’ to the explosive punk rock/electro hybrid of ‘Coolchazine’, and throughout Woodhands offers listeners a rich journey throughout the scorched landscape of what their sweaty brand of electronic has now become: Risky, emotionally resonant, and dangerously addictive.
Now, Remorsecapade is available as a special digital deluxe package including 6 remixes - the appropriately titled Remixcapade.
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