Akron/Family
Seth Olinksy of Akron/Family talks about the structure of the band and his thoughts on Brooklyn’s folk scene.
The music that Akron/Family makes doesn’t sound like it comes from New York City. It sounds like it comes from the heart of the south, where people in diners are friendly and biscuits and gravy are a breakfast staple. But somehow this three-piece grew out the Williamsburg, Pennsylvania and flourished in the Brooklyn scene with their experimental folk rock. Akron/Family released their fifth album Set ‘Em Wild, Set ‘Em Free in May of this year. Guitarist and vocalist Seth Olinsky took a break from touring to answer a few of our questions about the album and the band.
HEAVE: Your new album Set ‘Em Wild, Set ‘Em Free has a very unique sound, mainly because you guys refuse to stick to one general style of music. What was the reasoning behind this choice?
Seth Olinsky: With us there tends to be simultaneously lots of reasoning and none at all, so maybe this is how we end up specifically not fitting into anything specifically? I think that all of our music and recording thus far does seem to have this quality of floating around different influences, but I think that with each one, and especially with the latest one, there is more of a current, thread, or sound that holds it all together.
HEAVE: The album came out in May. Now that there’s some time between and the release and now, how do you feel this stacks up to your past releases?
Seth Olinsky: It is still a little too soon to tell honestly. I think that for me, our first release that came out in 2005 is still the only one I can hear very clearly. It has taken me this long to hear it as music, and not as something I made. It’s like looking at a room that you painted and being hyper aware of all of the edging. Ultimately, in the long run, I think that each release has great aspects. They were all great learning experiences and snapshots of where we were in a time. Inevitably you move on and are excited for the next thing, but I do believe that for this particular release, there is a lot that we are all proud of as a band.
HEAVE: I read that the band members don’t have assigned roles within the band and frequently trade instruments for different songs. How does this affect the songwriting process, having so many creative minds in one band?
Seth Olinsky: As you can imagine this is ultimately great but can also be a challenge. We are always trying to find ways to expand the amount of room there is for each of us to be creative within the scope of what we do. The songwriting process is always pretty different. On this record we tried to do more writing together, but it is different for almost every song. Sometimes the idea comes out of us playing together and is developed live. Sometimes someone brings a song, rhythm, or idea to the table, and we develop it as a group from there.
HEAVE: Brooklyn isn’t a place where you usually find your style of music, but it seems like more and more experimental folk bands are emerging from there. Any thoughts on why?
Seth Olinsky: I think it’s the coffee.
HEAVE: You’ve played as a three piece, a six piece, even a seven piece. Is it harder performance-wise to play with a bigger group than a smaller one?
Seth Olinsky: Actually, for us it is definitely more complicated to play as a three piece. We hear and see our music being pretty dense and varied, and to try and pull this off with just three of us is quite exhausting and quite a challenge, though I do think that after doing it for a year or so, it is really coming together. The great part about playing as a three piece, though, is that we are all so familiar and experienced playing with each other, that we can be very fluid, dynamic, and open to trying out new ideas and improvising.
HEAVE: A lot of music nowadays is, needless to say, musically simple. Your music is anything but. How do find most audiences reacting to your music?
Seth Olinsky: I think that we have spent a lot of time balancing the more intellectual or complex elements of our compositions, structures, and ideas, with the more intimate, emotional, and perfomative aspects so that these simper ideas can be a sort of door way or entry for people. When it works, I don’t think that people even pay that much attention to the complexities of the music, but that they are more interpreted as colors and textures that augment the experience of the concert.
Akron/Family will be in Chicago July 24th and will be touring the US and Canada until late September.
Posted by Amy Dittmeier on Jul 20, 2009 @ 12:00 am
