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Album Details

• Artist: Akron/family
• Album: Akron/family
• Label: Young God
• Year of Release: 2005
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: dscanland on 2005-06-16

This is such a fragile album, one of those albums that a gust of wind would blow away. Akron/Family work on a lo-fi sound but the harmonies are so pleasant and beautiful that this album comes off better than most lo-fi projects. Plus, there seems to be a lot more going on than the average bedroom recording. The album opens with a fragile guitar riff on "Before and Again" just before the gentle and quiet vocals break in. "Suchness" is equally as gentle. Then they wake us up by a blast of noise on "Part of Corey", more of a soundscape song than anything. On "Italy" we get so close and personal to the band that we can hear the porch creaking (or that's what I imagine it to be). It's a long song but well worth the patience to get through. Areas that I do have a hard time with are the atmospheric elements that are on tracks like "Interlude: Ak Ak the Boat They Sailed in On" but they more than make up for it on the beautiful "Sorrow Boy" which includes a pretty nifty synth line weaving in and out. "Lumen" is a full track at 5 1/2 minutes that really pulls all the sounds that they have together.
This is a great debut album by a band that should have some longevity and one that should provide some surprises along the way. Young God Records main man, Michael Gira even recruited Akron/Family to play on his Angels of Light project. That says a lot. Viva la freak folk!

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