PRESS
-
Akron/Family
()
Rocksound, Issue 72, May 25 ’05 (UK) | by Mike DiverRating: 8Rural types that ditched the country for the bustle of New York City back in 02, Akron/Family aren’t any old musicians looking to impress upon a scene; they’re not conventionally cool or hip, aping retro acts to seek commercial success. They’re simply men, born with hearts and souls, and all they do is write songs – sometimes sparse, sometimes complex – that possess charm and character enough to render that opening sentence irrelevant: this music doesn’t need location to serve as a point of stylistic reference. It’s absolutely conceivable that this, their first proper studio release after several self-issued recordings, will attract comparisons to today’s self-styled ‘free-folk’ artists. However, it should be noted that whilst Devendra Banhart et al are now successful, money-spinning assets, it’s acts like Akron/Family who craft the songs that cut closest to the bone....
-
MICHAEL GIRA / ANGELS OF LIGHT
()
Paste Magazine, Issue #15, April/May | by Benjy EisenWHEN NO MEANS YESA published version of this appeared in Paste Magazine; Issue 15, April/May '05 Some people spend their whole lives waiting for something to happen and then others make things happen before their lives have even started. Long before forming Angels of Light, long before producing Devendra Banhart, long before founding Young God Records, and, yes, even long before breaking noise-rock ground with the Swans, Michael Gira sat helpless in an Israeli jail, imprisoned for a month and a half without charges. A year earlier, he was behind bars in Amsterdam. He wasn’t even old enough to drive. So okay — being imprisoned two different times in two different countries isn’t exactly a model of productivity. But it does indicate that young Michael Gira was at least doing something from an early age. Whereas other teenagers may stay out past midnight or get caught smoking pot in the attic, Gira was running around Europe with hippies twice his age, panhandling, selling hash, doing hard labor, and experiencing the meaning of being alive — mistakes and all. “It colored me,†says Gira, from the comfort of his home office in Brooklyn,......
-
Angels of Light …Sing Other People
()
MOJO, NO. 138, MAY 2005 | by Sophie HarrisGentle folk sounds from one-time Swans man and ear-bully Michael Gira.There’s long been a mesmeric quality to Gira’s work, where the subtlest sounds interlock to build something hypnotic (and often uncomfortably loud). While that same buzz permeates these latest songs, there’s a new peacefulness that seems to sit and sigh from the bottom of Other People. Gira says it’s largley thanks to his involvement with NYC modern folk troupe Akron/Family, who play as his backing band. Whatever the cause, the result is a collection of brittle, twinkling songs, inspired by ‘other people’. Some are nightmarishly fantastic (the Michael Jackson/Saddam Hussein chimera of Michael’s White Hands), others are simple thank-yous (the Johnny Cash-inspired, arms-open waltz, On The Mountain). On all these fabulous tales, Gira’s voice remains reassuringly salty – and as with the best fairy tales, you can’t quite tell if he’s friend or foe....
-
Angles of Light sing “Other Peopleâ€
()
Rock Sound, Issue 72, May 2005 | by Amy McGillRating: 6WHO? Michael Gira, an acoustic songwriter with a bunch of merry folk musicians. SOUNDS LIKE? Nick Cave fronting The Polyphonic Spree in the middle of a desert. STANDOUT TRACK? ‘On The Mountain’ for its Velvet Underground drone. VERDICT? A twisted, in-your-face alt-country album that requires a lot of chewig over....
-
Angels of Light sing “Other Peopleâ€
()
UNCUT, Take 96, May 2005 | by Rob YoungCharacter studies and convulsive beauty in Michael Gira’s portrait albumMichael Gira says a song is “just something that passes through meâ€. In Swans it passed like a bowel motion, but in Angels of Light, he allows himself greater reflective space. Gira keeps things drumless, employing members of Akron/Family in a rich, acoustic chamber odyssey, sketching a procession of characters at once familiar (Michael Jackson, Saddam and Bush) and mythic. The pace and register of the record seldom alter: the soundscape is always more baked earth than lush foliage....