Akron/Family - Live @ Taylor John's House, Coventry

Akron/Family - Live @ Taylor John's House, Coventry (19/04/06)

If you had attended this gig after hearing the self-titled album alone, you may have been a little overwhelmed. But you could not possibly have been disappointed with the incredibly energetic and frantically intense performance put on by this group of lo-fi rockers. Yes, half the audience left during the 15-minute folk-metal jam, a sever attack on aural senses and the primitive acoustics of Coventry’s latest venue on its opening night. But the remaining followers were totally entranced. There were many psyched-out beard-wearers in the crowd rhythmically jerking along with bassist Miles Seaton, who had the most fantastic handle-bar moustache, and made good use of it with incessant fidgeting and asylum-inspired squirming.

The group started with Moment, the second track from their split LP with the Angels of Light. The raucous screaming and rattling feedback flirted dangerously with metal genre riffage. But it was blended with the simultaneous grace and beauty that you’d come to expect from this talented foursome. Towards the end of the track the players fell back on themselves, singing together over melodic guitars as if the last three minutes of brazen ecstasy has been just some wonderful nightmare that you’d rather not forget.

There are times during the Akron/Family live experience, of the layers of noise, the spatulas and screw-drivers against guitars, and microphones thrust down blaring throats, where you might feel a little bit lost. Other than their opening track, they only played two others off their officially released material (Suchness and Running, Returning), both warped behind unclear vocals and binging dissonance. But the charm of not giving a shit, of not simply regurgitating their material as it was recorded made that night something exceptionally memorable. I applaud the guys for making the step from the minimally beautiful to confrontationally appealing. Whether they’re just trying to make noise, or doing whatever is most fun, the disorientation and entrancement was well-worth the stay.