 |
Interview with Seth Olinsky of Akron/Family
by Josh Potter, January 2008
So Many Colors: The Vibrant World of Akron/Family
Somewhere in Williamsburg, a hipster has slipped, by minute degrees, from
the shell of his ego. He might have been perusing Pitchforkmedia.com,
looking for music he could be the first to tell his friends about, catching
up on the bands he was too sheepish to admit he'd never heard of, replacing
the outdated indie-rock on his iPod with the stuff he knew he'd cycle out
next month.
Then, he stumbled on Akron/Family. It might have been an older track,
predating their 2007 release Love Is Simple, but his ear perked up
immediately. Gentle acoustic guitar, tender vocals, electronic washes,
ecstatic pulsation a la Animal Collective. But something was different.
Please, Lord..., one line began. This kind of religiosity would have rubbed
him the wrong way in most cases, but what the vocalist implored of this
divinity was different. Give me strength to be nobody. I am not my thoughts.
The last time I saw Seth Olinsky, he was running manic through a crowded
outdoor patio at the end of an Akron/Family show with a fan on his back.
Other band members were busy dangling upside down from awnings and rubbing
their guitars against tree branches. "There's so many colors," they sang,
"without the dirty window…" It was absolutely infectious. Coiffed and
appareled, kids were holding hands, closing their eyes, jumping, shouting,
proclaiming ecclesiastical slogans. I couldn't help thinking, Is this for
real?
Eschewing both hippy and hipster templates (at war since a psychedelic
schism estranged the Grateful Dead's brand of naively optomistic
troubadour-hood from the Velvet Underground's desultory, nihilistic
realism), Akron/Family decided in 2002 to forge their own. Born of a small
apartment-cum-rehearsal space in Brooklyn, the band devised a "playful but
hermetic quasi-religious/sonic worldview/creed known as AK." The result is a
vibrant avant-pop, drawing at once from the world of folk, rock, noise, and
jazz, while bearing an uncanny likeness, at times, to Kirtan.
Facing critical allegations of spiritual pretension, their music has
undoubtedly shaken the irony-saturated art-rock world, but their proven
staying-power, rare in this realm, has verified that their message is more
than two-dimensional aestheticism. Don't call them messengers, but their
plea for self-reflection and unity in "phenomenon" is a timely one
throughout the urban archipelago, where the liberal consensus gorges itself
on atheistic rationalism and defeatist self-pity.
JP: People aren't used to the type of directness, honesty, and optimism your
music offers. It's one thing for an artist to be confessional. This begs (a
sometimes necessary) connection and catharsis through commiseration. But
proffering love and transcendence puts a listener in a position to either
embrace the sentiment whole-heartedly, or not at all. Do you think a lot of
listeners are alienated this way?
SO: I don't know if I would call them listeners. I think the people that
take the time to listen to our music including those that are already fans,
generally enjoy it and hopefully come away with something positive, joyous,
celebratory, etc. I think that for sure, a lot of "critics" or passive
listeners certainly feel alienated and write it off as naive at best. And
even with the attendees at our live shows, there are still folks that leave
around the 1 hr mark, who may or may not feel alienated, but the ones that
stay are usually very committed and interested, and are able to get over the
red flags of "un-cool" or "silly" or "cheesy" and really let go of these to
a certain extent and try and enjoy and celebrate life, the world, love etc.
Do you think many listeners assume you're being tongue-in-cheek?
I think that unfortunately, there are a lot of people whose only way to
process something, like the title of our album for example (Love is Simple),
is with irony. This was not the intention at all on our part. This specific
example was meant to be thought provoking, as well as just beautiful. I
suppose labeling it naive or "tongue-in-cheek" allows people to not really
give it much thought. For us, this example was meant to provoke thought
about the simplistic idea of love, or the fashionable re-hash of the love
movement as it relates to clothes and psych sounds, and actually again
revisit the wonderful and radical potential of love to change and grow and
move people. It's less something we are trying to tell people, and more
something we are trying to work on ourselves, and hopefully include others
in the process.
JP: Your music expects a lot of active engagement on the listener's part. Some
people are used to musical transcendence being delivered to them by an
"enlightened" virtuoso, but this is not how Akron/Family operates. There is
a clattering, collective momentum generated within the band and in the
crowd, born spontaneously, and directed by a cumulative inspiration. As
passive as they may have planned on being, the listener is sucked in. What
are your roles in conducting this process?
SO: You don't see us as "enlightened virtuosos"? Ah well. We are working on it.
I come from a jazz background, so I know what you mean: the committed and
dedicated virtuoso who has crossed barriers himself, through relentless
practice and mental exercise. I went to music school, and in some odd ways,
I think folks like Coltrane, or more realistically the idea of Coltrane's
virtuosity, really screwed some kids up. I think what I do share with this idea, though, is the feeling of trying to create a foundation within a tradition that is strong enough to root a true
exploration. I think progress can really work if it is attached to roots. It
is a very normal and organic idea, whether it is Coltrane with his rugged
Bop foundation or the beats or Kesey with their American Psyche Foundation,
I think it really helps to have a strong foundation when you start trying to
knock down the walls or rebuild the house. And in this way, I think
Akron/Family has really put in our time as far as the foundational aspects
of some of the bands we are inspired by or look to. This newest album for us
was really I think the end of us trying to really get into those founding
fathers of rock, Beatles, the Dead, Neil Young, Dylan, etc., to try and feel
like we could get into that space before we tried to move away from there
into a new one. Getting back to the question, I think that the process of trying to create
some spontaneous or transcendent experience as a group has been a lot of
work for us. We have spent a lot of time individually as musicians and
people, and then a lot of time as a group psychologically and also with our
music to be able to perform it in a way that allows for spontaneity and joy
and celebration. More and more we are working on rhythm and ways that
sustained rhythms coupled with some enthusiasm can really create a joyous
experience for people.
JP: Do you consider yourselves messengers or entertainers first?
Neither, really. I think that we try pretty hard for it not to be about us
up on the stage saying, "Here's what we know, or own, or have – now observe
and/or learn from it." More and more the live show is a direction of energy
with ups and downs, highs and lows, happy and sad parts, and once we get to
the end we have really tried to lock everyone in the room into one giant
life/love celebration. The only thing we are really ever telling an audience
is to try and loosen up. If that happens (for them and for us) the music and
the moment get to do whatever it is they do.
JP: Have you noticed a change in the Indie/hipster scene that, for so long, has
been dominated by a sense of irony?
SO: No, not really. From what I can tell, Irony and hipsterism seem to go hand
in hand. But that said, there are extremely cool and sincere people all
around the world, and they wear all sorts of different clothes.
JP: Can there be such thing as purely aesthetic transcendence, or do people have
to climb entirely on board?
SO: I can't say I know exactly what you mean when you say "purely aesthetic
transcendence", but I do think that one has to meet you half way, or at
least part of the way. I think that most real learning experiences are hands
on.
JP: Do you consider your music "psychedelic"?
SO: Some days yes, some days no.
JP: Do you notice an occasional shallowness in art-rock psychedelia?
SO: Sure, there is occasional shallowness everywhere. But I often feel that
"art-rock psychedelia" misses some of the key points of early psychedelia,
like the Dead for example. It is fashionable these days to reference Anthem
of the Sun or Aoxomoxoa, but people tend to overlook something like the
too-long blues moments, or the all out raggedness of the affair. In general,
to me what is transcendent about the Dead was never their psychedelic style,
but more their deep spirit. I think it was this willingness to tromp all
around the American Psyche, and play within it and invite everyone along,
that was the real spirit of transformation – not the aesthetic or
psychedelic style.
JP: Does half-hearted, postured psychedelia hurt the sanctity of the very
personal, mystical experience?
SO: No more than all the New Age babble filling the Barnes and Nobles of the
world. I think America (and perhaps the rest of the modern world, and even
me too!), has a problem with wanting to buy (or sell) a quick, personal
transformation. It is unfortunate though that I do think these kinds of
things reinforce people's tendency to not look any deeper than the surface.
Or, worse, cause them to go against their quieter, deeper inclination that,
in fact, there is more to this world, and reify that there isn't, because
the art that they turn to for its surface appearance does not actually have
the depth they are longing for.
JP: Has the music world been resistant to the spirituality and ecstatic energy
you bring to it?
SO: I do not think we are so far-out or radical as to cause too much trouble. At
least, not yet. I think the most resistance has come from music reviewers
who, as I have said, write off our music, or usually our lyrics, as hippie
naivete. We are not trying to preach to anyone, or really try to tell anyone
any specific thing, so I think that has allowed a lot of people to just
enjoy the joyous, ecstatic, or celebratory energy we try to bring with our
music.
JP: As per personal spiritual practice – do you practice with entheogens, or
endorse their use? Do you find others in the genre to be more "alc-edelic,"
as Janis Joplin said, finding ecstasy in alcohol?
SO: (Pause while I look up "entheogens "on Wikipedia.) Oh, no. Neither. We have
all tried or experimented with different drugs in our past, but truthfully,
we don't anymore and haven't for a long time.
We got pulled over in Texas once. The cop pulled me out of the car, brought
me back to his vehicle and made me sit in the front seat. After repeatedly
spitting the juice from his chewing tobacco into the over-sized styrofoam
cup sitting between our two seats, he finally asked if we were carrying
drugs. I told the truth.
"No."
He then asked if I ever tried marijuana. I lied. "No."
He said, "Really, not once?"
And I then told the truth. "Well, yes. When I was younger."
He then asked why I stopped and I told him, truthfully, that "I thought that
I could live a better life without it." And that's more or less true about
drugs in general. I think when I was younger they certainly opened me up to
creatively, looking at myself and my world and my relationship to the world
differently, but, at a certain point, they stopped being creative and became
more confusing. I am not judgmental towards other people's use, but I just
choose to grow in different ways.
As for alcohol, I don't know. In general, people seem to love to drink. I
don't really know that many musicians though that are alcoholics, and I
imagine most would have a hard time really finding ecstasy there.
JP: There is a lot of overt Buddhist/Taoist imagery and sloganeering in your
music. What role do these faiths play in your music?
SO: None of us practice Taoism. Some of us are practicing Buddhists. We try not
to make to big a deal of it because, on the practice side, it doesn't seem
too healthy to do so, and, on the musical side, we all have our own personal
beliefs, and also we don't want to scare off non-practitioners from the
music. We don't set out to make this or that kind of music. Being part of
our lives, it just naturally comes out. But as for whether this or that
aspect of Dharma relates to everyone, it seems to me that the heart of
Buddhism, the ideas of profound joy or love, is very human and shouldn't
have to push anyone away.
For me specifically, I think that music has been a huge (the biggest?) part
of what I consider my spiritual life. I think at some points music has
really challenged me and pointed me in certain directions, and then at other
times, the various paths have inspired or directed the music that I want to
be part of. It is really a wonderful give and take for me, though
challenging some times because it can be hard to tell where to put your
energy.
JP: Many songs have a strong element of chant, or incantation. For example: "One
suchness, 10,000 things..." Do you find value in the concept of mantra?
SO: Certainly. Not many of the songs were constructed with that specifically in
mind lyrically, but that theme/idea certainly shows up. Repetition shows up
all over the place in spiritual practices. I am obviously not the expert you
want to talk to about what happens in the brain when someone repeats
something over and over again, but whether it is a melody or a rhythm or a
phrase, repetition is certainly a way to create a trance, or a space for
yourself or listeners.
JP: Does your music draw directly on the practice of Kitran?
SO: I have never studied this. I only know a very little about the idea, but do
have a Bhagavan Das CD that I enjoy quite a lot. I have also listened to and
been inspired by Hassidic singing as well.
JP: Unlike the proclivities of other spiritually-inclined musicians, your music
does not groove so much as it throbs. An Akron/Family show is less a dance
party than it is a bubbling shamanic ritual. It has been described as
"archetypal" in that it eschews genre-classification in favor of a more
primary sense of musical experience. Describe where this approach comes
from.
SO: I like this "bubbling" idea. We might have to use that as we start to email
hippie festivals for '08. I feel like the genre thing is really simple. We
just really truly love music and lots of different kinds. There is a certain
aesthetic in what we are drawn to, but it is not genre. I think, really, we
just love good music.
It could be argued that good is relative, but then why does everyone love
The Beatles? Of course, everyone doesn't love The Beatles, but there is
something universal about them. Same with Bach, or Coltrane, or the blues. I
won't start listing all that we love, but even that is a common thread. We
love these kinds of music, and they become part of our language. But it is
less of a genre-deconstruction, and more like a … a lovey-dovey Ulysses of
music. Ok, maybe not!
I just look at all these wonderful things that came before as part of the
foundation for where we are now. Everyone is so focused on fashion and
change and "new" these days that they forget all the really simple common
threads of music through history – the simple elements and simple joys of a
song, or a rhythm, or the great stories that can be told in a composition.
"Art" has unfortunately become very "I" oriented, but music really isn't
about that at all. I moved from NYC to Pennsylvania recently, trying to
hopefully get away from the possibility of taking myself too seriously. NYC
is so wonderful, but also so media saturated that you can start to believe
your own press, if you know what I mean.
JP: How does Akron/Family differ from "dance-bands"?
SO: We definitely did not start out as a dance band. Our music was way more of a
heady experience, but then we started to write some Rock songs, and people
really responded to the energy so we went more in that direction live. Then
we started to realize that if we changed directions so much musically
(stop/start, up/down, loud/soft, slow/fast) people's bodies would start to
move to one rhythm. These days, we have tried to create more extended
sections with similar grooves and so, by the end of the show, have created a
really extended pulse that can become a jumping, kicking, shouting, ecstatic
experience!
JP: Furthermore ... who do you read?
SO: These days I don't get to read too much unfortunately. I am hoping to read
more this winter. We'll see. Right now, I am reading Black Elk Speaks, and I
have recently read books and sections of books by Tom Brown (Tracker, The
Vision, etc.). I am hoping to read Infinite Jest this winter. I have also
been reading Woody Guthrie's autobiography Bound For Glory (he is an
American treasure!). I am also kind of a Kurt Vonnegut nut and am always
revisiting his books. Just read Sirens of Titan this year and can't believe
I missed it until now. Also, just listened to Asimov's Begin Foundation on
tape on the way from Portland to SF.
JP: Do you consider your music to be political, in that it addresses a state of
collective consciousness that exists at the root of all human action?
SO: I don't pay much attention to politics. I do of course want to effect change
in myself and the world, but it seems better approached by personal
transformation and positive actions than some political agenda of rights and
wrongs.
JP: Do you believe lasting global change can begin in music?
SO: Not sure. I think music can really bring people together, raise their
spirits, and inspire them to follow their hearts. I don't think Jay-Z can
drop one rhyme and change the times (although, I do think he is great).
Anyway, maybe, but I wouldn't bank on it.
JP: Do you see humanity (as many contemporary thinkers do) to be toeing a
critical brink of consciousness?
SO: I am just hoping we hit it big before 2012. I always assumed we would have
made way more money by now! Truthfully, I don't know. People seem to be
people. I think I thought this more when I was younger, but really have no
point of reference for it anymore.
JP: Where do you see your music taking your listenership?
SO: I don't know, maybe we can all choose together.
JP: Where do you see your music taking your own spiritual practice?
SO: Good question – further, hopefully!
11:09 PM
-
4 Comments - 10 Kudos
- Add Comment
|
grateful
amused