The decision to not take yourself too seriously as a recording artist is one that bears considerable fruit over a long career. Wooden Eye, a Berwick-based roots-blues outfit, recalls less-is-more legends like Lyle Lovett and Randy Newman with a casual delivery and small-town songs. The band’s approach on its latest record, aptly titled “Spare Parts, Cans and Bottles,” alludes to a worldview where the little things in life inform the big, and not the other way around.

It helps that Wooden Eye’s frontman, Bob Halperin, has a crisp, full set of pipes, and that the players behind him — Mike Rogers, Dan MacLellan and Joe Rogers — have agreed to hang out on the back end of the beat and not crowd the project’s objectives. From the get-go, starting with the mandolin-flecked “Coyote,” the band dips into Little Feat “Dixie Chicken” mode when necessary, and never rushes what it is after. Must be a laid-back bunch of dudes.

“Out in the Parking Lot” is a strong ballad, with the blues harp taking a backseat to Halperin’s thoughtful lyric. The parking lot, before and after a show, is a scene that deserves more attention, given its complex dynamics and understated importance. The band treats it as such, and the song that results is a slow-burner, but attests to the level of depth that Wooden Eye is capable of reaching.

“Spare Parts, Cans, and Bottles,” with its low-grade ambitions, turns out to be a joyful surprise.

Mike Olcott is a freelance writer who lives in Portland and Boston.

 

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