By Grayson Hale
Before starting this review, I feel it’s important to note that this is my first experience with Akron/Family, and therefore confess to being completely unfamiliar with the group’s core sound and past works. The reason I mention this is because Sub Verses is so unlike anything else I’ve heard before that comparisons to anything other than the band’s back catalogue are extremely hard to make.
Sure, serving as Michael Gira’s backing band for the final few Angels of Light albums has certainly resulted in similarities between the two groups, and the psychedelic pop overtones hint at inspiration from Animal Collective’s Merriweather Post Pavilion-era, but there is just so much more going on here. The production on this record is simply huge, evidenced by opener ‘No-Room’, and there is something almost spiritual happening in the closing stages of the song. It’s loud, hypnotic, and transcendent all at once; an excellent introduction to the album.
Sub Verses is glued together at its core by the combination of ‘Sometimes I’ and ‘Holy Boredom’ and it is at this point that the album truly begins to take shape. ‘Sometimes I’ is really quite terrifying, utilising unsettling ambience and vocals, whereas ‘Holy Boredom’ is nothing short of bizarre with its ever-changing structure and form. The songs work well together and change the pace of the album at just the right time.
Other highlights include the math-rock of ‘Sand Talk’, perhaps the most easily enjoyable track on the album, and standout ‘When I Was Young’. The latter is a slow, bluesy number that superbly winds the record down to its natural conclusion in ‘Samurai’, another slow and hypnotic slice of psychedelia.
While it is certainly difficult to understand Akron/Family, it is clear that their music goes well beyond your standard rock and pop compositions. However, Sub Verses only ever briefly achieves the transcendence they aim for, during ‘No-Room’ and ‘Sand Talk’ for example, and it sounds as though they can do a lot more. Perhaps perfection lies somewhere in their previous releases, but if not they definitely possess the potential to achieve it in future.
