In the most recent issue of The New Yorker, peerless pop music writer Sasha Frere-Jones mentions the great number of indie bands that (in his words) “have found vitality in massed vocal arrangements that sometimes have little to do with rock.” Frere-Jones drops the name of blog-approved artists like St. Vincent, Bon Iver and Sufjan Stevens, but, I think, makes a critical omission by not including Akron/Family in the discussion.
Like those other artists, Akron/Family seem at their most revelatory and gleeful when all its members are singing as one. The band’s most pop single-like track, “Ed Is A Portal” (from 2007’s Love Is Simple) is seven minutes of a ramble tamble free-for-all elevated by all four members opining the title giddily to the skies.
That same spirit has affected all the band’s work, but seems to be especially invigorated on their latest effort, Set ‘Em Wild, Set ‘Em Free. Another seven-minute example lies at the center of this disc, “Gravelly Mountains of the Moon”. The track begins in a wistful gospel mode with Dana Janssen, Seth Olinsky and Miles Seaton engaging in some heartfelt call-and-response singing. By two-and-a-half minute mark, it zips into hyperspace. The guitars turn into LSD IV drips, the drumming turns evil and above it all, the three men moan, scream and thrash their collective larynx into submission.
Perhaps it is Akron/Family’s penchant for those more free form, psychedelic moments (such as the blistering instrumental “MBF”) that kept the band removed from Frere-Jones’ article, especially considering the other artists in question tend to play much softer and determined music. But they are capable of moments of breathless beauty throughout Set ‘Em Wild, as on the finger picked acoustic ode to “The Alps & Their Orange Evergreen” and the slow spacewalk that is “Many Ghosts”.
Also, I will add, Akron/Family are the best live band in the world right now.
May 9th, 2009 at 8:57 am