Pianist Steve Beresford once memorably described London-based improvising guitarist Roger Smith as someone "who tends to move away from microphones as if they were out to get him." Smith, who was the longest-serving member of John Stevens' mythic Spontaneous Music Ensemble apart from Stevens himself, is, compared to fellow English guitar improvisers John Russell and (especially) Derek Bailey, something of a recluse nowadays, lecturing and teaching guitar by day and playing by himself late at night in his Wood Green apartment (hence the album title). Like the material on his two earlier solo CDs on Emanem, Unexpected Turns and Extended Plays, these 12 tracks were recorded direct to DAT in the guitarist's kitchen (the plumbing system makes itself heard at several places). Smith plays Spanish guitar without a plectrum, using the rich resonance of its open strings to perfection. Though the pieces are generally quiet, they fairly bustle with gentle activity, their myriad notes rustling like leaves on a tree. The music is fascinatingly introspective, the filigree-pattern work mapping out an idiosyncratic and totally coherent harmonic space all its own, yet it's far from cold; there's a self-effacing sense of humor to tracks like Forward Fast that is all too often lacking in improvised music, a genre that tends to take itself far too seriously, and credit is due to Emanem's Martin Davidson for once more coaxing this gentle nocturnal animal out into the light. ~ Dan Warburton, Rovi

1		Wood Green Waltz
2		North 22 (No Catch)
3		Forward Fast
4		Extended Ploy
5		Strange Interlude
6		Waltz With Heating
7		An Extract
8		Diminuendo and Crescendo in Green
9		Saul's Beret Rode
10		Local Twang
11		The Last of the Season
12		Arse Myth