Akron/Family and Wand at Rock And Roll Hotel
Akron/Family
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“How many people here write songs?” asked James Jackson Toth at The Rock And Roll Hotel last night. The question was met only with crickets chirping in affirmation, but it hardly mattered since Toth pens enough for us all. Though you might not recognize him by his surname, chances are you’re familiar with one of his near infinite monikers and collaborations—Wooden Wand, Wooden Wand And The Vanishing Voice, Wooden Wand And The Sky High Band. This show was simply billed as Wand, but Toth presented a surprising contrast to the impression conjured by his eclectic, voluminous output.
In person, Toth’s bulky, boyish stature betrayed the mystery that surrounds similarly mercurial songwriters and, as he began, his humorous Tennessee temperament charmed the not-yet-filled room. Unlike the unpredictable Wooden Wand, Toth’s current muse is far more conventional: twang-tinged country, explored on last year’s Waiting In Vain and select tracks on Hard Knox, a recently released demo collection from Ecstatic Peace. Although the bulk of that material was unremarkable, its creaky chords and wistful melodies came alive with the addition of Toth’s back-porch charisma.
True to form, the evening’s headliners, New York City’s Akron/Family, hazily took their time getting onstage after propping up a tie-died American Flag. Since its inception, the band has walked a thin line between bombastic noise experimentation and dippy, percussion-focused jamming. Once labeled under the mercifully fleeting “freak folk” designation, A/F incorporates the celebratory optimism of the ’60s counterculture with a post-modern awareness appealing to both the cynical and the idealistic. Think of them as the tie that binds the two types of people at Bonnaroo.
The band's new album, Set ‘Em Wild, Set ‘Em Free, continues a trend of quasi-mission statement names that began with 2007’s Love Is Simple. This latest has moments of the boisterous, meandering folk of the band's past but now centered with a new focus on electronic elements—a bold deviation against type considering Akron/Family's association with bushy beards and woodland creatures. Whereas A/F’s tendency to break into combustible sonic squalor had helped to highlight the beauty of its three-part harmonies, the use of keyboards and programmed beats did not suit them, leaving a new song, “Creatures,” sounding just as muddled live as it does on record. Playing as a lean three piece, the band took this opportunity to pare down its songs by bulking them up. A/F has never been mistaken for a bunch of shoegazers, but its presentation on Tuesday was noticeably brawny as the band exerted itself into territory that could only be described as "rock." Fortunately, the stretching of solos never languished for too long before a counter melody or impromptu chant interrupted the groove.
