Depending on when you got into the indie rock game, Akron/Family is either upstart or institution. Unlike mid-decade peers like Animal Collective and Grizzly Bear, they haven't abandoned their urban hippie aura, nor have they moved on to the larger amphitheatres. But they've picked up a few tricks, chief among them a fondness for big, riff-driven rock songs. Sub Verses is their seventh album, not including a cluster of live releases and solo projects, one in which their one-time label boss and collaborator Michael Gira says he hears "grizzled Beach Boys". Gira also tells us to watch our egos "unfold like a purple meat-flower," so he seems to understand Akron/Family's quest to meld their folk-rock skills with sounds more abstract and unknowable.
The resurgence of Gira's Swans hangs over this collection, though Akron/Family don't have a thimbleful of that band's menace. These songs are anthemic, like courtside music for weekend warriors of off-the-grid living, though they reveal Akron/Family as a surprisingly typical rock troupe, rallying around cutting guitar figures and frenzied drum work. That approach doesn't necessarily work for them-- "Sand Talk" and "Holy Boredom" collapse into themselves like failed cake, too dense to enjoy, smothering Seth Olinsky's way with goodly, simple messages. Even with a small choir to assist him, Olinksy's reedy voice can't stand up to these percussive assaults, but time has revealed him to be a versatile, friendly frontman. He and his band are better and more compelling when they don't swarm their sound-- when they free up their slight, pretty melodies from the maelstrom. They've never written a sweeter, simpler pop song than "Until the Morning", where Miles Seaton's voice breaks as he asks to spend the night. It's as straightforward as the Avett Brothers, but more textured and vivid.
Likewise, the tipsy horns and dubby waltz of "When I Was Young" give the band a strong, familiar melody to chew on. There's some more apologizing, and a few "whoa oh oh oh ohs". So much of Sub Verses longs for companionship, giving lie to the title of the band's best album, 2007's Love is Simple. "When I Was Young" also reminds us that Akron/Family has been around, now, for eight or so years. Their career resembles that of Japan's Ghost, another rogue crew with a devoted cult who continued to churn their sound. Sub Verses proves we shouldn't take Akron/Family for granted; their restlessness is rare.
