Opening with a groove unlike anything Akron/Family have ever laid to tape, the first track on Set Em Wild, Set Em Free kicks off a new chapter for the band. The percussive thunder and anthemic electric guitars of Everyone is Guilty make a bold statement, touching on everything from Fela Kuti to Sly and the Family Stone in under six psychedelic minutes. This is not the Akron/Family you think you know.

As Everyone is Guilty fades into River the band returns to something they have always been known for: writing a timeless hook. River delivers Ali Farka Toure-like guitar work, but this song is all about the infectious vocal melody. As the album unfolds, Akron/Familys musical explorations are virtually without limits. Whether its the celebratory sing-along gospel of Gravelly Mountains of the Moon, the lush folk sounds of Sun Will Shine (Warmth of the Sunship Version), or MBF, which lies at the intersection of primal punk rock and heavy free jazz, Akron/Family are a band boiling over with ideas. Their musical vocabulary runs deep its not just Jimi Hendrix, Neil Young and the Grateful Dead that inform Set Em Wild, Set Em Free. Akron/Family feel at home on this album, confident and self-assured. Following a year of making things bigger and wilder live, the band returns to something simpler on Set Em Wild, Set Em Free. With limited outside assistance, this trio has made a focused, powerful and unified work. Set Em Wild, Set Em Free maintains the communal spirit of the big band that won audiences over throughout the world, but it showcases Akron/Family at its core three musicians, equals, creating music from deep within. Set Em Wild, Set Em Free is something undeniably special and immensely powerful. Set Em Wild, Set Em Free is the new psychedelic rock.