Akron/Family – Set ‘Em Wild, Set ‘Em Free (Dead Oceans)
4/5
By: Alex Hibbert
BUY DOWNLOADOn a page in a magazine are four boxes. They lure, but one stands out: an American flag, creased. Starless, a shortly regarded stabbed spiral of white paint stands where they should be instead. Turn to the back, to a pastoral contrast in white on black - there's a sense of symmetry in the words: River, Alps, Evergreen, Sun, Shine. It's not as blatant, say, as The Thermals recent release, in which the track listing actually was poetic, but it's no less judicious in intent. Venture further, into Akron/Family's Set 'Em Wild, Set 'Em Free, the images start to make sense; Americana distorted amongst bucolic sentiment, rage, wistfulness and thought.
This fifth album, however, is more than the sum of those parts - pastoral decadence, menacing symbolism and tribal overtones both in name and harmony - as it's also a pilgrimage. From the on-foot vehemence of 'Everyone Is Guilty' to the driven fury, piqued in 'MBFs' burst seams, it's clear: the band's evolved. Placed somewhere near Devendra Banhart's psyched-out folk after appearing at relatively the same time, I also read of post-9/11 smoking towers and Strokes, and realised that Akron/Family really need not be pigeon-holed.
Instead, now, it's more important to look at the band's recent history: to the more purposeful stomp that made up Love Is Simple, and to the departure of original member Ryan Vanderhoof. Both events unwillingly impact on this. The former, as it signalled the time in which Akron/Family eschewed the scene, their music more embodied, intentful. The latter, because it informs everything here; the melancholy (the sleeve note reads "last year was such a heard year/ this year is gonna be ours"), the kindred spirit evoked in volume - the brash psych-out of 'Everyone Is Guilty' or the deep folk throb of 'Sun Will Shine' belies that the band are now a trio - and the fact that losing one of their most instrumental parts made Akron/Family this way.
It may be slightly top heavy, it may venture into Animal Collective bliss ('Creatures') all too easily, it may end with an all too short gospel song when it's crying out for an orchestral epic. But it contains eloquent beauty; laid down in tall grass and gazing skyward ('River'), it changes pace frequently - from the sanguine insight of 'The Alps & Their Orange Evergreen' to the extroverted wonderment of 'Gravelly Mountains Of The Moon' - and it disregards the hurt of tumultuous times, and favours revelling in the happiness of now. It's the horizons dark outline, hot sun beating ground. It's not "the" sound of the summer, but it's a sound of a summer, a season we should all experience.
Artists in this article: Akron/Family
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