PRESS
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Akron/Family
AKRON/FAMILY CD()
Boston Phoenix | by TED DROZDOWSKIblends acoustic string instruments with layers of electronic noise and vocal harmoniesThese urban Okies from Brooklyn have created a kind of contemporary-primitive style that blends acoustic string instruments with layers of electronic noise and vocal harmonies. Their compositions reflect both the sweet, earthy influence of the Band and the textural applications of Ennio Morricone. And here they’ve written some evocative songs that, thanks to the high plaintive lead voice of Ryan Vanderhoof, tell stories of searching for self-realization, true love, and desire. Layers of sound slowly build as each number unreels. At the start of the epic "Italy," the only instruments are a lightly amplified electric guitar and the squeaky chair that Miles Seaton rocks back and forth to elicit just the right slow groan. Other guitars intervene as Vanderhoof begins to sing, and the song crescendos with a four-part vocal break, tinkling percussion, and minimal drumming that — in the Akron/Family’s quiet, spacy universe — sound like a volcano erupting. As they alternate between explorations of mountain-music roots and unpredictable yet entirely organic experimentation, it becomes obvious that these guys have made one of the more daring, free-ranging debuts of the year. Fans of......
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Akron/Family
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Boston Phoenix | by TED DROZDOWSKIAKRON/FAMILY CDThese urban Okies from Brooklyn have created a kind of contemporary-primitive style that blends acoustic string instruments with layers of electronic noise and vocal harmonies. Their compositions reflect both the sweet, earthy influence of the Band and the textural applications of Ennio Morricone. And here they’ve written some evocative songs that, thanks to the high plaintive lead voice of Ryan Vanderhoof, tell stories of searching for self-realization, true love, and desire. Layers of sound slowly build as each number unreels. At the start of the epic "Italy," the only instruments are a lightly amplified electric guitar and the squeaky chair that Miles Seaton rocks back and forth to elicit just the right slow groan. Other guitars intervene as Vanderhoof begins to sing, and the song crescendos with a four-part vocal break, tinkling percussion, and minimal drumming that — in the Akron/Family’s quiet, spacy universe — sound like a volcano erupting. As they alternate between explorations of mountain-music roots and unpredictable yet entirely organic experimentation, it becomes obvious that these guys have made one of the more daring, free-ranging debuts of the year. Fans of Devendra Banhart and John Frusciante will dig Akron/Family’s abstraction; those......
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Akron/Family
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Altar Magazine | Dana Reinoosbeautiful, melodic folky songwriting mixed with long epicsThe debut album from this group of four men from rural backgrounds is on the same label as Devendra Banhart and Swans, which makes perfect sense. They are, in some ways, a combination of those two artists: beautiful, melodic folky songwriting mixed with long epics and somewhat inaccessible live shows. They wanted this album to be a triple one – very ambitious for a debut. But, their music backs up this egotism. They take influences from country, folk, and even minstrels, and make it something all their own. The lyrics are simple and to the point, yet still pack a punch, which adds to the album's stripped down feel. The entire lyrics to "Afford" read "The power I afford you/Is the one/I wish/I had/Over you." On the record's first (and best) track, "Before and Again," the vocals are alternating – deep and high, personal and aloof – as the acoustic guitars and string section are overlaid with electronic beeps and multi-tracked vocals. And when, with one minute left, the song becomes more upbeat and percussive, it doesn't seem wrong at all. These kinds of seemingly contradictory elements are present......
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Akron/Family
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Neumu.net | by Tom Ridgestrong and deeply fascinatingCompared to Michael Gira's other great discovery, Devendra Banhart, Akron/Family's music is less immediate, but possessed of a slow, seeping potency transmitted through carefully layered arrangements that bubble away under seemingly tranquil acoustic surfaces. Gira's Young God label has constructed a beguiling semi-mythology around this quartet of young musicians, now Brooklyn-based but originally transplanted from rural origins. Akron/Family is presented as pastoral spontaneity meets folk spirituality, a debut album dressed up in the arcane imagery of Albertus Seba's 18th century illustrations from The Cabinet of Natural Curiosities. But it is also a meticulously assembled world of sound, as much a product of contemporary studio montage techniques as of timeless melodies. This doesn't necessarily raise doubts about the group's sincerity, but it does suggest a lineage descended as much from, say, Four Tet as from The Band (whose members were themselves self-consciously drawn to myth-making). Another clue may be found in the typography, in the ambiguity of that slash dividing the band's name — they're not so much practicing the art of deception as nodding playfully at their own self-invention. The music confidently mixes crystalline acoustic melodies with slurries of percussion and noise samples,......
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Sing "Other People"
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only angels have wings | by Andrew Iliadishappily twisted pop recordSing “Other Peopleâ€â€”the latest offering from Young God/Angels of Light head Michael Gira—is a lot warmer than its predecessor, the haunting goth-folk masterpiece Everything Is Good Here/Please Come Home. The dirt has been wiped almost completely for this release and all of the songs have been produced with an almost radio friendly texture. From the get-go, “Lena’s Song†is inviting and strikingly poppy. I was taken aback by its warm and sunny guitar (sunny in a Michael Gira way), but that’s not to say everything is just dandy; the song is still permeated by heavy feelings about the past. Since I don’t know who Lena is it’s hard to say just what type of feelings, but my money is on nostalgia; “Lena has sung / but she will sing again / beneath a desert sun / in withered skin.†Speaking of “Lena’s Song,†all of the songs on Sing “Other People†are about people (go figure). Some are or were involved personally in Gira’s life while others are almost mythical figures enmeshed in the shady world of mass media. Guess who “Michael’s White Hands†is about. On other songs it’s......