When reviewing an album that I know little about, I always try and go in with an open mind to let the music speak for itself, but for Akron/Family’s new album, Sub Verses, this ended badly for them and for me.
The album’s opener, ‘No-Room’, gets them off to an OK start, with a slightly generic but fun enough kind of groove. There’s a lot of space to relax into this track, and it seems to be setting you up for a nice time with the rest of the album. Their second track, ‘Way Up’, almost heads in the same direction with some nice harmonies and keeping the same open-spaces feel, but I was disappointed to start to hear in this track that Akron/Family’s laidback feel translates into kind of lazy vocals that refuse to land on the right notes and set my teeth on edge. A large part of the album follows in the footsteps of this track, with not only the vocals, but the rest of the instruments aiming for a relaxed groove but instead landing in a much lazier place.
There are still some nice tracks on the album, with the nice, quiet feel of ‘Until The Morning’ catching my attention and the album’s finisher, ‘Samurai’, ending the album on a nice, beachy kind of a note. But not even a nice ending could undo the work of the rest of the album. ‘Sometimes’ and ‘Holy Boredom’ even go to a slightly eery place with an aggressive feel to the tracks that made me feel like my ears were being assaulted. ‘Sand Time’ had a cool kind of syncopated feel to it that might’ve been fun if I hadn’t just been listening to the rest of the album, as by this stage I was pretty sick of the band and pretty ready to listen to something that didn’t feel like an attack.
I’m very ready to accept that this music might just not be my style and may be much-loved by listeners that are much more open-minded and fun than me, but it didn’t grab me at all, and instead made me lament that I had to give the album a repeat listen in order to write this review. I’m also sure that a lot of people are into this style of music that kind of rollicks around without paying much attention to rhythm or playing and singing in tune, but I’m fine with accepting that this isn’t my jam if it means that I don’t have to listen to Sub Verses again. Sorry again guys, I’m sure it’s just coz I’m a big ol’ snob, but I can only give this 3/10 because that was the amount of songs that I enjoyed on the album.
3/10
Reviewer: Louisa Bulley