We have two tickets to give away to the Akron/Family show at U-Hall April 26! Email [email protected] with your favorite A/F lyrics for a chance to win! Tickets are still available, doors are at 6!
Below is my amateur review of their new album Sub Verses, out April 30th! Sub Verses is streaming in its entirety over at Pitchfork, so check it out!Â
For the most part Sub Verses displays the A/F standards of driving percussion, strong harmonies, and complex guitar layering. My favorite song of the record, "Way Up," comes early and I think there are a lot of comparisons to be drawn between Sub Verses and a record like Merriweather Post Pavilion. "Until the Morning" is a bit more melodic and while it still has the A/F trademark pulsing tempo tucked into the back, it really leaves space to actually hear the vocals. Two of the strongest songs on the record, "Sand Talk" and "Sand Time," sandwich a seemingly psychotic genre freak-out.
"Sometimes I" is completely anomolous. Like sometimes I have to... check my computer to make sure I didn't turn on The Phantom of the Opera. The next track, "Holy Boredom" starts with strings, and I started to worry that the rest of the record would vault into a full blown rock opera, but it quickly breaks down into a highly effected vocal chant with several derivations of percussion and synth rhythms. Like really, this song is actually a show tune, dramatic violins and all. I have no idea what it's doing in the middle of the record. I think it really destroys the pacing and momentum of the more enjoyable tracks.
Luckily, "Sand Time" is strong enough that I was able to give the final three tracks a good listen. "Whole World is Watching" has a driving, almost Celtic guitar riff and brings a good deal of energy, despite the anemic vocal delivery. Once again the album pivots with "When I Was Young." It's a doo-wop, jazzy ballad with a retro riff and some really nice saxophone. It reminds me of something that, for the life of me, I cannot think of. The closing track "Samurai" reminded me of earlier My Morning Jacket, like maybe when Jim James retires on a Polynesian island. The chorus reads: "When I had no tempo, I make my voice my tempo." And how. This record goes by A/F's rules, and you can take it or leave it. I like a record with a mix of slower ballads and frenetic jams. I just don't know if I can digest everything on Sub Verses.
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