Akron/Family: Love Is SimpleYoung God: 9/18/2007
Having heard Love Is Simple, it's hard to believe this is the same band that backed former Swans singer Michael Gira on his gloomy (but brilliant) album, Angels of Light Sing: Other People. Akron/Family's third album is a terminally cheerful record and a welcome relief after the abominable Meek Warrior. The album's overture, "Love, Love, Love (Everyone)", as you might have guessed, is a Beatles-esque declaration of the record's theme of universal compassion. Akron/Family repeat the claim in the album's title in various ways throughout though, ironically, love isn't simple and neither is the album. Love Is Simple contains the most complex psych-rock songs ever released by the band. Multi-part songs with extraordinarily elaborate arrangements and circuitous rhythms abound, giving way periodically to quiet vocal interludes. In spite of the chaos, or possibly because of it, the album ends with a reassertion of the need to "go out and love, love, love everyone." Perhaps Akron/Family recognize that, though love is messy, the need for it is basic and universal.
No comments:
Post a Comment