Love Is Simple - Akron Family Album Review
Akron/Family
Album Review
Pennsylvania's Brooklyn -based bearded troupe the Akron/Family is something of an enigma, even by psych-folk ( freak folk) standards. Their highly experimental approach, is, an acquired taste. Much of their work has elements of incendiary cacophonous blasts highlighted on Of All These Things and Lake Song, though the latter has some fine Latino guitar and thunderous drum work. This quartet are going into musical directions with a truly freewheeling spirit, so you'd better hold on because it's a white knuckle ride, for most part. Recorded over two weeks somewhere in the New Jersey woods, this boho-bunch of weirdos were fearlesss in their determination to astound us, on all levels. It opens deceptively with a Beatles-like simplicity a la All You Need Is Love, without all the latter's pomp, and is reprised at the end, book-ending a fascinating, if occasionally, difficult platter to digest.Further in, there's Crickets (yes they're buzzing in the background) on a wonderful countryfied beauty, bringing back shades of the Ozark Mountain Devils from the 1970s. It's sweet stuff that juxtaposes marvelously with their no-limits sonic excusrions. Hippydom returns majestically on the tribal gathering of Ed Is Porta. Not even psych-God Devendra Banhart would go there. High spirited chants precursor the acoustic romp, similar to Zed Zeppelin crowd pleaser Bron-Yr-Aur Stomp ( Led Zep 3) that turns into a scintilating western hoe-down before it morphs into a beat-vocal spacey end. Phonomena's gentle start changes quickly into edgey and sharp chords, back to sweet harmonies and back again to the chords and Jack White styled guitar solos. The middle section of There's So Many Colors is superb because of the (strangely) inhibited solos.
The album's weirdest tracks are Pony's O.G., many 'La La La's' and spacey sounds, and fun-filled and sonically twisted I've Got Some Friends.
Love Is Simple won't UK chart, but still worth a check.
