When Akron/Family rolled through town last year with
Angels of Light, most of the crowd at Emo’s had turned out to see the former Swans leader Michael Gira. But Akron/Family clearly stole the show, both in their opening set and in backing Gira as Angels of Light. The reaction seemed expected and even encouraged by Gira though, who had just signed the band to his Young God
Records label and helped produce their debut album. So while the tour may have been headlined by Angels of Light, it was really more of an opportunity for Gira to show off his latest freak-folk discovery and heirs to the Young God kingdom post-Devendra Banhart. This time around Akron/Family took their place at the head of the bill with label-mates Mi and L’au supporting, Austin being the final show of the two groups’ brief southeast jaunt together. Local favorites Shearwater rounded out
the lineup with a preview of their upcoming album and approaching SXSW
performance.
Although filling the abbreviated opening spot, Shearwater put on what may easily
be one of their best shows that I’ve seen. The group took the stage sans Will
Sheff, who was sitting (or rather standing) this show out in the audience.
Without Sheff sharing lead duties, Jonathan Meiburg was able to really prove
his ability as a front man and distinguish the band from the unavoidably long
shadow of Okkervil River. Sounding more confident, powerful, and yes, louder than they had ever before, the brief set suggested that Shearwater may be turning a corner onto a more rock-paved road – and hey, with a drummer named Thor, it was only a matter of time. That’s not to say that they’re abandoning their characteristic alt-folk elements or even Meiburg’s chilling falsetto, just that now they aren’t afraid to shove the guitar into the amp every so-often, and, better yet, seemed to have a helluva good time doing it. They closed out the set with a fantastic take on Brian Eno’s “Baby’s On Fire” that was worth the price of cover in-and-of itself. Although Meiburg prefaced it with an apology (whether for taking a go at the Eno song or for the somewhat haphazardness of the set itself was unclear), nothing that I heard warranted any kind of extenuation. In fact, if this show was any indication of what their new album “Palo Santo” will sound like when it finally drops in May, then I wouldn’t be surprised to see Shearwater follow Okkervil’s success on the national level.
Shearwater left a lot for the subdued duo Mi and L’au to live up to, and just
braving the Emo’s stage with an acoustic guitar ought to be grounds for some
type of commendation. The Finnish couple played through the airy folk songs on
their self-titled debut album, and while every song was as gorgeous and
hauntingly beautiful as the pair themselves, it was a tough set to stand through
late on a Wednesday night. Mi and L’au’s music has such a whispered late-night bedroom sound that you feel as if you’re invading something incredibly intimate and private between the two, and they’re so hushed as to make Azure Ray sound hardcore. But the crowd was generally drawn in and equally mellow, minus one drunken heckle that elicited a joking response from L’au that he had at least remembered to wear his cowboy boots. The height of the set came with the last song as the Akron/Family boys joined them onstage for “Older,” dedicated to Seth (he’s the bearded one!) since it was his birthday. With some band help behind them, Mi and L’au sounded a lot stronger and more capable of holding down the room, which they might need to somehow harness when they return to La Zona Rosa’s club stage on March 2.
With Mi and L’au’s departure from the stage, Akron/Family quickly took over and began strewing around their clutter, adorning every mike-stand and covering the stage with enough stuffed animals, toys, cassette tapes and general randomness to make the place look like your kid brother’s bedroom the day after Christmas. But, and probably just like your kid brother’s crap, almost every object seemed necessary for them to have at hand, and most eventually found their way into the songs in one form or another. The band opened quietly enough with “Awake,” but following the tracklist on their latest split release with Angels of Light, burst into the complete deafening chaos of “Moment.” Just in case anyone in the crowd wasn’t sure, we were decidedly far from Mi and L’au’s Scandinavian cabin. This isn’t your parent’s folk music – unless, of course, you occasionally find your father huddled under the dining room table from his brown-acid Woodstock flashbacks. But Akron/Family’s neo-psychedelic folk sound isn’t just the blazing swirl of noise and shredding distortion of guitars (though they undoubtedly do that well) – it’s also the combination of perfectly matched off-kilter vocal harmonies and moments of such intense quiet as to make even Mi and L’au take notice. And perhaps – though you may have to indulge me here – this is the real point of that slash in the name of a group of guys that are neither related nor from any Akron, USA. It’s a post-modern schizophrenic signifier for a music that itself refuses classification, bursting through a nightmarish crescendo that, like a bad-trip, seems unending, but only to suddenly smooth into the lightest lullaby that slowly drops the room down to complete silence – only the hum of the speakers rippling through the audience. And, as with the best live shows, there is something completely organic and communal in both the noise and the silence, that “/” acting as a connection between elements even as it separates.
Akron/Family made their way through most every song from their new split album, from the gently swaying “We All Will” to the electronic glitches and staccatoed Isaac Brockish singing of “Future Myth” to the calculated, slightly off-pitch screaming and bursts of classic rock, Cream-esque guitar riffs on “Dylan pt. 2” and “Raising the Sparks.” If this sounds like an impossible pastiche of incongruent influences and styles, then perhaps it’s the greatest credit to Akron/Family that this collage couldn’t sound more natural, even when all compressed into the improbable space of a few minutes. Also slipped into the mix were “I’ll Be on the Water” and “Sorry Boy” from their first release, the latter following a fifteen minute jam that produced a fury of scruffy beards contorting in the crowd.
Closing with “Raising the Sparks” seemed an obvious choice and it didn’t disappoint. The song encompasses everything Akron/Family, complete with handclaps and their uniquely shrill harmonies. In fact, I think it’s the harmonies within the band that continue to impress me the most. There’s a nod to the most traditional bluegrass and Appalachian folk harmonies that justify their comparisons to family groups like the Louvin or Allen Brothers, but integrated and carried through a line of psychedelic and punk musical sensibilities that makes explicit the connection often drawn between early NYC punk and its backwoods folk roots. Like the Louvins and best early-folk vocals, these harmonies aren’t meant to integrate sweetly, but to compete and exploit the tension into a synthesis within the song – disparate elements brought uniquely together in an unmistakable sound. And here we’re back to that inevitable Akron/Family “/” that refuses to accord to any single, simple lines of influence or distinctions while at the same time insisting on and performing that distinction. The result musically may be the epitome for everything that has somehow fallen into the indefinable freak-folk category, a movement that, like Akron/Family, seems to encompass more than can define it, but is unmistakable when you hear it.
