S/T II: The Cosmic Birth and Journey of Shinju TNT

iTunes Review

Akron/Family have consistently been one of the more rewarding groups of the 21st century. “Group” sounds almost too formal for this project. There is a core three of Miles Seaton, Seth Olinsky and Dana Janssen, but they openly accept their old bandmate Ryan Vanderhoof on slide guitar, trumpeter Ed Sortman, vocalist Ali Beletic and percussion expert Tatsuya Nakatani to join in wherever it makes sense. The album was written in Japan and recorded in an abandoned train station in Detroit, Michigan. The variety is always key and here the band flow from sweet vocal performances (“A AAA O A Way”) to boogie-gospel (“So It Goes”) to bucolic reveries (“Island,” “Another Sky,” “Canopy”) where the instrumental flourishes burst and flame out at random, sliding between quiet walks in the park to sonic ambient assaults. “Light Emerges” leads a group sing-along into the folk chorale of “Cast a Net.” The entire album feels like much more than 13 tracks, with instrumental and vocal side trips within a single track. Akron/Family are open and free in the best way possible.