Then came the voices - a keenly harmonious choir (actually just three singers, but with a voluminous sound) that has been likened to robe-wearing rock orchestra the Polyphonic Spree. It seems that heavenly voices must have heavenly intentions, so Akron/Family has been brush-stroked with a religiosity that's not really evident. If anything, the band proved to be about music and community. Or music as community.
Shortly after recording 2007's "Love Is Simple," Akron/Family lost one member, but for this tour bassist Miles Seaton, guitarist Seth Olinsky, and drummer Dana Janssen are joined by opening trio Megafaun, which added keyboards, guitar, electronics, and percussion. All of which, after that spare intro, built to magnificent tribal stomps, haunting gospel, and psychedelic rock.
Repeated phrases, both sung and musical, formed the basis of the songs, but when augmented by freestyle jamming, the sextet eventually fell into an interminable jam.
If the opening had been auspicious, the finale was less spectacular because of that. But those parts in between - monk-like chanting, shimmering post-rock guitar, and Afro-bop percussion - made believers, one and all.
Providence trio Deer Tick moved from Western swing to proto-rock and topped it with an inspired cover of "La Bamba."
North Carolina's Megafaun opened with Appalachian-tinged ditties and dirges. Before lurching into the meditative "Where We Belong," co-singer and guitarist Phil Cook summed up the evening: "A lot of people go to church on a Sunday. This is like church."
