Silly Bears

Akron/Family

Since forming in 2002, Akron/Family has been making experimental psych folk which powerfully embodies the combined poetry of lyricism and rhythm. The track “Silly Bears” is off of their latest LP, Akron/Family II: The Cosmic Birth and Journey of Shinju TNT which was released in February of 2011. As the title may indicate there is a strange and unverified story behind the creation of this latest album which can best be summarized in this quote from a note left by the band in a cardboard box containing a diorama and some CDRs on the doorstep of their record label, Dead Oceans:

Little dreams written in communal books. These memories recovered from old coughing hard drives, spliced infinitesimally small and reconstructed into front lobe acid punk outsider emotional music spaces.

Their sound is an amalgam of many different influences, but first and foremost it packs an emotional punch. Like in poetry or fiction, the space between the sounds is equally important and Akron/Family is adept at making each instrument or noise or note speak as its own voice in the chorus of communication they present. — Rebecca Bernard