''Songs of Shame'' is the fourth album by the American band Woods, released on April 9, 2009, on

Woodsist Woodsist is an American independent record label founded in 2006 by Jeremy Earl of the band Woods and based in Stone Ridge, New York. Artists * Alex Bleeker and the Freaks * Art Museums * The Babies * Blank Dogs * Blues Control * The Chri ...

Woodsist: Songs of Shame (CD/LP)
/ref> and on April 14, 2009, on

Shrimper Records Shrimper Records is an independent record label based in Upland, California. It was founded in 1990 by Dennis Callaci. Roster * Ah Bus * Amps for Christ * The Aum Rifle * Azuza Plane * The Babies * Lou Barlow * Bingo Trappers * Franklin B ...

. The album was recorded by the band at

Jarvis Taveniere Woods or The Woods may refer to: Common meanings * Woodland * Forest * Wood, solid material from trees or shrubs Places United States * Woods, Kentucky * Woods, Oregon * Woods, a municipality in Liberty County, Florida * The Woods, a nei ...

's studio, Rear House, in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

Critical reception

''Songs of Shame'' received largely positive reviews from contemporary music critics. At

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...

score of 79, based on 6 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". Matthew Murphy of ''

Pitchfork Media ''Pitchfork'' (formerly ''Pitchfork Media'') is an American online music publication (currently owned by Condé Nast) that was launched in 1995 by writer Ryan Schreiber as an independent music blog. Schreiber started Pitchfork while working ...

'' gave the album a positive review, stating, "Despite Woods' humble production values and their fondness for living room ambiance, ''Songs of Shame'' has that almost subliminal ability to make one want to move in to listen more closely. And once you've been drawn in for a good listen, it becomes difficult not to want to come back for many more." Rob McCallum of ''

PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, fi ...

'' praised the album, stating, "It’s interesting that a collective known for releasing mix tapes of their main influences manages to go to portray these so clearly on their own recordings, yet never fall foul of relying too heavily upon the hybrid of nostalgia they pool from. “Gypsy Hand” gives ''Songs of Shame'' the scuzzed-out, guitar-laden ending it so deserves before “Where and What Are You ?” allows the record to meander off into a freak Fleet Fox-esque vocally harmonious closure. Each individual track on ''Songs of Shame'' manages to develop not only as the album progresses, but with each time the LP is played, with new favourites manifesting themselves with each listen, a sign of a truly great album." Brendan Mahoney of ''

Tiny Mix Tapes ''Tiny Mix Tapes'' (also ''TMT'' or ''tinymixtapes'') is an online music and film webzine that focuses primarily on new music and related news. In addition to its reviews, it is noted for its subversive, political, and sometimes surreal news, a ...

'' was rather critical of the album, stating, "Too often though, on this record and elsewhere, the disconnected vocals lazily substitute for things like artistic honesty and substance. Woods borrow somewhat vaguely from that vaguest of genres, indie rock, and the whole project seems a bit, well, rootless. If they decide to get serious about being a band and not just a project, maybe next record they could take us to their own personal woods, instead of just telling us about boring generalized woods. You know what I’m saying?"

Track listing

References

2009 albums Woods (band) albums Shrimper Records albums Woodsist albums {{2000s-folk-rock-album-stub