Album Review: Donovan Woods, Without People

Donovan Woods has the sort of smooth, malleable voice that floats by, nearly unnoticed, in food courts or your cousin’s car. It’s a voice that lacks any kind of real distinction, a soft-spoken everyman in the truest sense ⎯ you could graft Woods into any radio-slicked genre mutation and he would sound right at home. 

And speaking of genre mutation, Woods’ latest, the shimmering Without People, continues his streak as a master of the subtly pop and R&B-inflected folk-country that he’s built his name on. Woods is a talented songwriter with a gift for air-tight melodies and an unfailing understanding of when to pull back ⎯ every song on Without People breathes and glitters, never too much or too little. 

There are subtle outliers ⎯ the tumbling percussive groove of “We Used To” or the ramshackle, bluesy “Whole Way Home” with its scuzzy guitar and dark chords ⎯ but for the most part, these songs are so professional and tasteful that one might wish Woods would indulge in some stranger impulses. The wandering, romantic strings and chatter that open the record make the rare reappearance, but they mostly feel like a teasing taste of a more adventurous album.   

Ultimately, Without People sounds like precisely the album Woods sought to make ⎯ beautiful, tender, heart-on-sleeve songs that dissipate on impact.

Without People was released November 6, 2020 on Meant Well Records.
Listen to it here