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Akron/Family | Review
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New Haven Advocate | Ryan Kearney We have come for your childrenDecember 8/05 All in the Family Akron/Family is out to convert the masses. Akron/Family: We have come for your children. Akron/Family likes to perform sitting down. You can stand all you want--you probably have no choice, unless you want your jeans sticking to the floor--but this inimitable foursome doesn't need to straddle guitars or hump the mic stand to punctuate their act. No, they do just fine seated in chairs. Well, barely seated. As I learned during a September show at Rudy's, Akron/Family play with such fervor as to be perpetually on the verge of falling off their seats. And if the audience was also seated, no doubt their asses would have been on the edge, too. The show was a dizzying blend of harmonization and hysterical chants; psychedelic and traditional folk; acid and Southern rock. Akron/Family is a band that plays like they're possessed. I almost expected to see eyeballs rolling back in their heads, or for them to sing in tongues. But during quieter moments, sitting at eye-level with the audience, they exuded the intimacy of an impromptu, fireside music circle. Or a cult gathering. As the hour-hand neared......
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Akron/Family & Angels of Light | Review
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Westword/Denver Co. | Jason HellerGira leads his protegés through a multi-instrumental minefield of minor keys and apocalyptic loveAngels of Light & Akron/Family (Young God) Published: Thursday, December 1, 2005 After Michael Gira's discovery of Devendra Banhart, it seems that the Angels of Light frontman (and Young God Records head) knows a good investment when he sees it. Gira's first major find since Banhart is Akron/Family, an avant-folk troupe that traffics in warped twang and blurry harmony. Angels of Light & Akron/Family is, as its name implies, a merger of the two bands -- and its resounding depth and elegance prove that Gira's sole agenda is the patronage of pure sonic poetry. On the album's first half, the Family explores a denser, darker branch of its own disjointed joyousness. Later, Gira leads his protegés through a multi-instrumental minefield of minor keys and apocalyptic love. Between them is a rootsy reading of Dylan's "I Pity the Poor Immigrant" that outlines the acts' overlapping aesthetics, as well as their seamless symbiosis. Regardless of any dividends this collaboration might yield for Gira's wallet, his soul -- and indeed, that of anyone within earshot of this disc -- is much richer for it. ...
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Akron/Family & Angels of Light | Review
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Westword/Denver Co. | Jason Helleran avant-folk troupe that traffics in warped twang and blurry harmony Angels of Light & Akron/Family (Young God) Published: Thursday, December 1, 2005 After Michael Gira's discovery of Devendra Banhart, it seems that the Angels of Light frontman (and Young God Records head) knows a good investment when he sees it. Gira's first major find since Banhart is Akron/Family, an avant-folk troupe that traffics in warped twang and blurry harmony. Angels of Light & Akron/Family is, as its name implies, a merger of the two bands -- and its resounding depth and elegance prove that Gira's sole agenda is the patronage of pure sonic poetry. On the album's first half, the Family explores a denser, darker branch of its own disjointed joyousness. Later, Gira leads his protegés through a multi-instrumental minefield of minor keys and apocalyptic love. Between them is a rootsy reading of Dylan's "I Pity the Poor Immigrant" that outlines the acts' overlapping aesthetics, as well as their seamless symbiosis. Regardless of any dividends this collaboration might yield for Gira's wallet, his soul -- and indeed, that of anyone within earshot of this disc -- is much richer for it. ...
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Mi and L'au | Review
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theredalert.com | Michael Byrnethese songs are gorgeous for their absences December 05 Mi and L'au (Young God) We've traveled this twilight forest before, we've felt snowflakes melt on our bare necks, we've been alone together here, and we've known that behind us this forest has sucked away our path, washed over our stamps and sounds. This is where we meet folk phantoms like Mi and L'au, one half-world apart from the rock affected Devendra Banhart or the pop sheen of Rosie Thomas. These are fourteen tracks of crystalline melancholy, a stripped subtle folk answer to Portishead's chilly masterpiece Dummy. Paths of sound upon solid white snow or through clear cold nothing, these songs are gorgeous for their absences (much of which we can credit to Young God father Michael Gira's austere production.) Mi's vocals convey a sadness that creeps/glides along the precipice of apathy. Paired with minimal instrumentationa slow piano drizzle, minor-key guitar, the quiet entry of bowed strings, L'au's Euro-affected vocals they offer an understanding of every weight ever thrust upon us. When they haul this critic into the middle of a certain snowy Michigan field for a final pity-bullet, I could only hope for these ghosts to trail......
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Akron/Family | Interview
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theredalert.com | Adam McKibbinWe're all here having a good time, let's fucking hang out together.December 05 A conversation with Dana Janssen After recording their debut record for Young God Records and labelhead Michael Gira (Swans), Akron/Family had so impressed their boss that not only did he want to take them out on the road with his own act, Angels of Light, but he actually wanted them to become Angels of Light right alongside him. After recording and playing live together, the relative newlyweds decided that they had something special and invigorating--and certainly something unique. Their new split record, under the joined name Angels of Light & Akron/Family, is a snapshot of the music that evolved from that time on the road, and a very promising sign of things to come [for Akron/Family, especially; the more stripped-down Angels of Light third of the record feels somewhat safe and familiar by comparison, despite the backing band being given substantial freedom of movement]. Gira's passion for Akron/Family helps make him an effective producer, and he continues to encourage the shaping of their sprawling sound - a little bit primal and a little bit psychedelic, a little bit folk and a little bit rock,......