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The pastiche of the US flag on the cover is apt, for their latest Akron/Family have surpassed their own eclectic standard by tipping every aspect of US rock and folk music in a blender with a large measure of thoroughly unfashionable enthusiasm.
So you've got Minutemen bass, bucolic flutes and strings, the urgent chorus from a lost 70s musical and smooth sax - the sound the Polyphonic Spree would make for the brief seconds after they'd supped the Kool-Aid basically. And that's just the first song, Everyone is Guilty. They follow that with River which, rather than taking the 80s U2 sound (martial drums and chiming guitar) into stodgy stadium indie, marries it with twee folkiness for a jaunty singalong; the hippy-alt-folk Tuungery of Creatures; the gently weary Lewis/Oberst loveliness of The Alps and Their Orange Evergreen; the Palace-like alt.country fragment Set 'Em Free; the... Oh, you get the picture - there's a lot here.
To be honest I stopped at the point where the general goodness gives way to more patience testing experiments. Gravelly Mountains of the Moon could tempt the finger of the most twee- and noodling-tolerant space case towards the skip button, even the interjection of some thundering guitar only saving it for a minute or so. But, even though you could say the same for a couple more of the remaining tracks, there's still a few good ideas and euphoric moments left in the tank.
Not one for the casual listener, but if you're feeling robust and want a rather different take on Americana, then you'll find plenty of reward here.
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