Hey, do you remember Freak Folk? I remember Freak Folk. Devendra Banhart got popular, and suddenly it seemed every guy with a beard had an acoustic guitar, and was making strange noises. Akron/Family got lumped into this category, and I can’t say it was entirely unjustified. The thing about Akron/Family is that, as the cliché goes, they kind of defy description. I saw them live in 2006, and it was one of the most blissed out, indecipherable things I have ever experienced. If you had an idea of my drug history, you would know not to take that statement lightly.
The fact that they don’t fit easily into a box is a good thing. A/F really must be experienced to be understood, but since this is an album review I must try to make sense of their insanity.
S/T II: The Cosmic Birth and Journey of Shinju TNT is their fourth full-length. It seems to me that they’ve managed to mellow out while somehow getting stranger at the same time. The album begins with “Silly Bears” which seems to be about bears, I think. The song starts with the banging of drums, and shouting, before a riff that sounds like a dull knife rips into the song. Then they begin singing, of course, about bears, and honey.
The album continues with “Island,” which, for reasons that escape me, reminds me of a Kanye West song. It’s a spacey breeze of a song, but it’s a little sedate for my tastes.
The fourth track and first single is “So It Goes.” I simply adore the riff that opens things up. The singer tells a story that seems a little strange. He talks about how, he, like other people, stopped giving his change to homeless people, but he changed back. He then tells us about how he saved $1.80 at Safeway. A woman outside the store asks him for $1.80, he gives it to her, and wonders if he was robbed. The song slows down, and the rest of it is the phrase “so it goes” sung a few times over an acoustic guitar. It’s easily the best song here.
I think the rest of the album sort of meanders along. There are some slow ones, some fast ones, but I have a hard time paying much attention to any of it, with one exception. Near the end of the album comes “Fuji II (Single Panel)”. It takes almost two minutes for it to get started, but once I hear the lyrics “we were living underground” I always perk up.
According to the album’s press release, a note was included with it when it was delivered to the label. This note claims to be a transcription of another note that suggests this:“Flourish.Flourish.Flourish. Fuck Shit Up.” The band claims to have taken this advice to heart. I’m all about fucking shit up, but the band doesn’t seem to be doing much of it on this album.
I enjoy the album, yes, but I’m not sure if I’ll still be listening to it six months from now. The band has definitely flourished, however. When I fell in love with their first album, five or six years ago, I never expected them to continue making music I enjoy. I also didn’t expect them to keep the shroud of mystery that surrounds them. It seems amazing to me that a band like Akron/Family can exist in the digital age. They deserve your attention.
Track Listing:
1. Silly Bears
2. Island
3. A AAA O A WAY
4. So It Goes
5. Another Sky
6. Light Emerges
7. Cast a Net
8. Tatsuya Neon Purple Walkby
9. Fuji I (Global Dub)
10. Say What You Want To
11. Fuji II (Single Pane)
12. Canopy
13. Creator
