The enigmatically named quartet Wooden Shjips play a minimal, droning brand of garage-styled psychedelia with a noticeable Krautrock influence. The band's vocals slip beneath waves of throbbing minimal rhythms, while fuzztone guitar and shrieking organs jump to the foreground. The group started in San Francisco during the mid-2000s as a D.I.Y. operation, recording and releasing records by themselves before attracting the attention of record labels like Sub Pop and Holy Mountain. In 2011, they signed to Thrill Jockey and began recording in a proper studio for the first time, resulting in their most expansive, dynamic work yet. Following a relocation to Portland, and 2013's Back to Land, the group seemed to go on hiatus for a while, but they returned in 2018 with the cheerful, optimistic V. Leader Ripley Johnson splits his time between Wooden Shjips and another acclaimed psych-rock outfit, Moon Duo.