Though each member of the band — Miles Seaton, Seth Olinsky, Dana Janssen and formerly Ryan Vanderhoof — can be relegated to loosely defined roles (drummer, guitarist, bassist, vocalist), all of them play several instruments and sing, as evidenced by their shows and recorded material. When playing live, the band makes prominent use of improvisation and vocal harmonies. On their self-titled debut record, field recordings of a creaking chair, thunderclaps and the white noise of a television find their way alongside psychedelic and electronic elements, guitars and a glockenspiel.
In addition to their solo debut in 2005, the band played behind Michael Gira on his Angels of Light project as well as splitting a full length CD with Angels of Light.
In 2006, the band released an EP, “Meek Warrior,” a collaboration with master drummer/hero Hamid Drake which contained both more traditional folk music such as the lovely "Gone Beyond" and a pair of throbbing electric guitar monsters in “The Rider (Dolphin Song)” and the epic “Blessing Force,” which ends with an exploration into free jazz.
Sometime between the completion of [2007 release] Love Is Simple and Akron/Family’s 2007 U.S. tour, Vanderhoof left Akron/Family to live in a Buddhist Dharma center in the Midwest.
The band has also released several tour EPs featuring demos and other recordings. In May of 2009, the trio released Set 'em Wild, Set 'em Free. This album serves as a blend of the previous albums with more acoustic-folk songs like "Set 'em Free," to fusion freak-outs like "Gravelly Mountains of the Moon."
In January of 2011 they released their album, "S/T II: The Cosmic Birth And Journey Of Shinju TNT ."
Akron/Family's sixth studio album, Sub Verses, was released on April 30, 2013 on Dead Oceans. The band toured for the album from January 29 to December 8, 2013. After the tour the band decided to focus on personal projects, leaving the door open for a possible reunion in the future.
Raising the Sparks
Akron/Family Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
As the groom lost his tongue
And began to unfold all his questions.
From a place near his heart
Where his ribs caged a spark
That was lighting enlightening burdens.
Fathers lost, sons had found
What the bachelors of old all were missing.
And a glimpsed image spoke,
Faded fast, made of smoke
It could barely be heard, such a murmur.
Such a sight never seen
Like the thousands of dreams
That you've 'wakened to never remember.
And a residue left
Right through day into night
Lighting up enough space to be empty.
We thought we found
The source of the sound
But illusions are made of such thinking.
We lost, we found ourselves
Back on the ground,
Holding the walls of our bedrooms to
Raise the sparks.
The song "Raising the Sparks" by Akron/Family is a poetic exploration of grief, enlightenment, and the fleeting nature of life. The first verse describes a scene where a groom loses his tongue and begins to ask questions from a place near his heart. This spark that has been caged by his ribs is described as "lighting enlightening burdens." This image suggests that this spark is both enlightening and burdensome, as it represents a revelation that is both liberating and overwhelming.
The second verse describes a crowd that has gathered around and is experiencing a similar kind of revelation. Fathers are described as being lost while sons have found something that the bachelors of old were missing. The verse goes on to describe a glimpse of an image that speaks, but fades quickly and is barely audible. This moment is likened to the thousands of dreams that we wake up from and never remember. The residue of this image is left behind, lighting up enough space to be empty. This paradoxical image suggests that even when we experience a moment of enlightenment, it does not fill the empty space within us.
The final verse brings the song back to the present moment, where the characters have lost and found themselves back on the ground, holding the walls of their bedrooms to "raise the sparks." This image suggests that the enlightenment they experienced was not something that could be sustained, but rather something that needed to be raised up again and again.
Line by Line Meaning
Sadly we grieved
We were filled with sadness
As the groom lost his tongue
The groom was speechless
And began to unfold all his questions.
He started asking a lot of questions
From a place near his heart
From a deep inner feeling
Where his ribs caged a spark
A spark of energy was trapped within him
That was lighting enlightening burdens.
The spark was helping to lighten heavy loads
Crowds gathered round
People came together in a group
Fathers lost, sons had found
Older generations were confused, while younger ones understood
What the bachelors of old all were missing.
They discovered something that unmarried men had been lacking
And a glimpsed image spoke,
They saw a vision that communicated
Faded fast, made of smoke
The vision disappeared quickly
It could barely be heard, such a murmur.
The message was difficult to hear
Such a sight never seen
Something completely new and unusual
Like the thousands of dreams
Similar to the countless dreams
That you've 'wakened to never remember.
That you forget as soon as you wake up
And a residue left
A trace was left behind
Right through day into night
All day and all night
Lighting up enough space to be empty.
Illuminating an area that seemed empty
We thought we found
We believed we discovered
The source of the sound
The origin of the noise
But illusions are made of such thinking.
Our assumptions were inaccurate and unrealistic
We lost, we found ourselves
We experienced a sense of disorientation, then regained our footing
Back on the ground,
We returned to reality
Holding the walls of our bedrooms to
Grasping onto the walls of our rooms in order to
Raise the sparks.
Stir up the energy within us.
Contributed by Michael L. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Patrick McNally
Still one of my Favorite songs ever
Grandmother Productions
The first Akron/Family song I ever heard and I never looked back
Christopher Hawkes
great tune x
Ryan Cooke
Absolute stone cold belter.
Nissim Begas
great fkn jam
Ettore Marmo
+Ben Begas It's a great album closer indeed. Have you heard the first two tracks Awake/Moment?
Rui Carvalho
like