Akron/Family is one of the few bands that can turn indecisiveness into a positive advantage.
Every album finds the New York-based psych-rock trio dipping into stylistic opposites. “Meek Warrior” (2005) flared from free jazz odysseys to hushed, intimate folk while 2009’s lauded “Set Em’ Wild, Set Em’ Free” celebrated funky buildups and psychedelic crescendos.
“Sub Verses,” their most recent offering, jumps stylistically again into noisier, more intense territories inspired by the grating noise of frequent collaborators Swans.
The Signal sat down with Miles Seaton, Akron/Family’s bassist and singer, to discuss how tension informs their new album, hyping up audiences and Octane Coffee.
TS: I was surprised to learn you guys are a three piece, because your albums are so densely orchestrated. How do you portray that same density live and do you ever worry about songs that you can’t perform with a three piece?
Seaton: That’s a good question. I feel like that’s something we’ve been explored a kind of paradigm for a long time and that’s kind of a modern question. Up until the 60s, recorded music was not the main way that people consumed music or experienced music, and I feel like there’s a level where after Sgt. Pepper everybody decided that they needed to make some unreal-atmospheric a more psychedelic or multi-dimensional experience.
After that time, I feel like people have started to keep that sort of mentality as a benchmark of a way to make records. For me, when we play live, that’s really when music is happening. For recorded music, I don’t feel like recordings are music, its more akin to sculpture or painting. There is a lot of emphasis on performance in our recording process. It’s more if the records have to be sort of unreal and immersive and expansive to be able to make up for the fact that we can’t actually confront people. The cool thing is that neither one has to be the same.
TS: When you’re recording do you feel like you’re trying to compensate for that lack of physicality?
Seaton: It’s more of trying to see what the space feels like, it’s not so much of a compensation, it’s more just that I really try to invest in that format and it’s not about anything but creating an experience. I don’t try to duplicate anything. Sometimes I try to compensate a little bit, or maybe I play with dimensions. Like on our new record we work with a really amazing producer and engineer, and part of the idea is that he really understands how to place things in space, because he uses all these really different recording techniques.If you listen to it in headphones you can really hear the dimensions in the space, and that creates this sort of immersive environment.
TS: What really struck me the last time I saw you guys perform was during one song, half the band ran into the audience, head-first, and tried to hype people and it really got the audience moving. How important is audience participation and energy to you? And do you have any tricks you use to get people more involved?
Seaton: I think listening is an active role; I feel like the reality is that people are so used to things being broadcast to them all the time. With live music, it’s really cool, but it’s really easy for people to think that there’s this kind of passive, non-participatory role. If someone’s not really doing anything, it’s their choice to not do anything.
It’s the same thing if you’re performing in an ensemble and you lay out, that is just an important a choice as if you play a note. So that’s a very important role that the audience has. Sometimes running out into the audience and breaking into that presumed fourth wall is kind of a trick. It’s just more trying to create a sense of us being in a room together, because otherwise we could just play press play to our record, and dance around like assholes.
TS: On “Sub Verses,” it felt like a much bleaker album for you to do. Was that anxious feeling something you felt was going to be on the album or did it just come about during the recording process?
Seaton: I feel like anxious is an interesting word, but there’s some moments on the record that feel claustrophobic and dark. I felt like we did make a choice to do something that’s a lot more intense and heavy.
As far as this kind of tension, I think there’s a level of us not trying to resolve tension. I feel like there’s a tendency with our music to add contrast color. You have a noise blast and then you almost apologize for it by softening it. I feel like we made a choice to have things stay, and then move on to something else instead of having things contrast each other. Our live show is definitely more intense and feels more like Fugazi, Neurosis, or Sun 0))). We were really trying to do something more physically intense and heavy.
TS: Do you guys have any favorite places you like to visit in Atlanta?
Seaton: It’s hard because I feel like when we get to Atlanta we always have to go to some far away place, but there’s a place called Octane Coffee that we all really love a lot because we’re coffee freaks. We always hit that place before we take off. Do you have any suggestions?
TS: Well, there’s this novelty strip club we have called The Clermont Lounge that everyone is kind of obliged to recommend.
Seaton: I know The Clermont Lounge. I used to live in Atlanta. I saw Shellac at The Clermont when I was like 19 years old. I used to got to this place called C11, it was this warehouse that was on the west side of town. They had one place that had these crazy rave parties, and I think they even had halfpipes in there.
