AKRON/FAMILY – NEW ALBUM ‘SUB VERSES’ – 29TH APRIL ON DEAD OCEANS
TRACKLISTING BELOW, ARTWORK BY SUNN 0))) GUITARIST STEPHEN O’MALLEY ATTACHED
Akron/Family have just premiered the first song from their forthcoming record, ‘Sub Verses’, which is set for release on Dead Oceans on 29th April.
The first song to be released into the wild is ‘No-Room’ and showcases the heavier, more direct sound of ‘Sub Verse’s. Influenced, in part, by monumental land art installations and harnessed by producer Randall Dunn (Sunn 0))), Earth, Black Mountain, Wolves In The Throne Room etc…). In a sense it sees the band returning to their roots, revisiting the heavy physical impact, emotional confrontation, intensity, and musicality of their collaborations w/ Michael Gira of Swans. In a personal statement Gira had this to say about ‘Sub Verses’:
“We find [Akron/Family] rocking (still rocking), but now in a skittering kaleidoscope. The shards of music styles and influences flung through the speakers from all directions, congealing for a second, then just as quickly dissolving into something new and unexpected. They’re amphetamine-crazed jugglers of sound and texture, but there’s always those vocals, rooting the thing in a deep and satisfying place.
It seems to me lots of groups these days view the whole history of music as fair game for their palette, which might be understandable, since it’s all there at easy access now, but most of it seems like playing dress up to me, and certainly it exists in inverted commas.
STREAM NEW SONG ‘NO-ROOM’
There are no inverted commas in the world of AK. They’re inside the music, grinding it, fighting it, chewing it, digesting it, then spewing it up to the sky in a multi-coloured spray of endless sound and love.”
The full text from Gira is available, alongside statements from Seth Olinsky & Miles Seaton from Akron/Family here at the Dead Oceans website.
The album’s art was created by Sunn 0))) guitarist Stephen O’Malley, whose graphic design has appeared on records from Boris & The Melvins to Oneohtrix Point Never. Visit the Akron/Family Tumblr for more insight on the visual influences that informed the work.
Akron/Family ‘Sub Verses’ tracklising
1. No-Room
2. Way Up
3. Until the Morning
4. Sand Talk
5. Sometimes I
6. Holy Boredom
7. Sand Time
8. Whole World is Watching
9. When I was Young
10. Samurai