Akron/Family - 'Set 'em Wild, Set 'em Free' (Dead Oceans/Crammed Disc) Released 04/05/09

It’s not been the easiest of years for Akron/Family. First the band split – some say acrimoniously – from label head, mentor and tireless cheerleader Michael Gira of Swans and Angels of Light fame. Then founder member Ryan Vanderhoof tired of the endless touring and quit, a crippling blow for an outfit operating under a genuinely democratic all-singing, all-songwriting regime. Add to this the fact that despite albums as approachable as 2007’s lovely ‘Love is Simple’ Akrons remain at the outer margins, loved passionately by some but dismissed as peace & love clichéd sprouting hippies or, worse, another incarnation of the Grateful Dead’s aimless jam band aesthetic by at least as many, and you’d be excused for expecting them to chuck in the towel.

Thankfully, they’ve persevered. ‘Set ‘em Wild, Set ‘em Free’ is a dazzling album, a definitive statement from a much-misunderstood band whose recorded output’s so far failed to shine as brightly as their positively exhausting live workouts. The recipe’s simple – hack off the excesses, those freakier outpourings that wow live audiences but baffle and mislead in more sedate settings, and concentrate instead on showcasing what an astoundingly expressive bunch of performers the band’s by now become. That they manage to do this without stifling the mischievous sparkle that’s made Akron/Family stand out is what makes this, their fifth full-length, such an indisputable bull’s eye.  

That’s not to say the band’s regressed into generic verse-chorus-verse merchants - ‘Everyone is Guilty’, for example, packs a seamless blend of intricate afro-beat licks, feverish chanting and blissful harmonies into a head-spinningly diverse onslaught of ideas. Elsewhere, the trio dare to simplify and shed the odd pound of flab that’s weighed down past output, with shimmering results – the chiming high-life guitars and cuddlesome pulse of ‘River’ (which beats Yeasayer at their own globe-straddling game), the aural equivalent to a particularly pretty sunrise that’s ‘Sun Will Shine’ and the sparkling country-folk of the title track to the fore - that at any household with fully functioning ears in residence can only be greeted with the sound of jaws hitting the floorboards.  

“Last year was a hard year for such a long time/this year’s going to be ours”, the band harmonise in ‘Last Year’, the bruised fragment of a lullaby that closes the album. With a record like this under their belts, they’re entitled to claiming the entire decade.