What makes a song emotional? Is it thought-provoking lyrics? An intense, reflective sound? A means to reflect on past times?
In the case of “the sound” by woods at nite, it’s all of the above.
After listening to this song, I can say with 100% certainty that the name, woods at nite (pseudonym for Louisville-based artist Zac Goldstein), is nothing if not strategic and encapsulating.
His song, “the sound,” off of 2022 album see through house, is calm and relaxing, but it’s certainly not emotionless; it’s more so relaxing in a way that tugs on your heart strings. His discography is stylized in all lowercase, which, to me, reflects this calm yet sentimental feel he’s reaching for in his music. Capital letters are too aggressive sometimes, anyways.
With the acoustic guitar driving the song, it’s initially pretty soothing, but it later dies down, forcing you to focus on nothing but the song’s intense and introspective lyrics. Near the end, it all builds up once again when the guitar picks up as well as the outdoorsy background noise that we hear in the beginning. At the song’s conclusion, the instrumental fades out, leaving you with nothing but white noise, which speaks a lot to the power of emptiness in conveying emotion. As I’ve noticed in music and film, sometimes the best way to make a point is to say nothing at all.
This song is more of an experience than anything else. In an interview, Goldstein asserted that he intends to “create an environment” that you can re-enter at any time. He hopes to create a feel of relief and support through his music that can allow for somebody to decompress.
And decompress I did. The sound of woods at nite is quite comforting, both in title and music itself. But I also had a moment while listening to this song, where I just kind of lost myself in the sound. This song’s environment is, well, very woods-at-night-like. The best way I can put it is that it reminds me of when you’re sitting outside on a summer night and you can hear crickets and bugs all around you. You’re sitting on a wooden table and even though you have splinters all over you, you’re content with your life and embrace the splinters because one day, you’re not going to be sitting on that picnic table anymore.
Every song seems to reflect some sort of environment, whether that’s the intention or not. If a song isn’t designed to create a moment, it can be closely associated with the physical senses of the moment. woods at nite seems to check off all of the boxes for me; not just with audio, but with the sensory imagery that’s subliminally invoked in the listener, like these woods and crickets and splinters. But because we’re emotional while listening, we come to appreciate the memories that “the sound” triggers. You learn to embrace the splinters after a while.
