Folk rock and distortion fill Waldron

It’s a wonder that all of Bloomington wasn’t deafened Wednesday night, considering the barrage of psychedelic music that was pouring out of the John Waldron Arts Center Rose Firebay at Fourth and Walnut streets.

Featuring local band Resting Rooster and New York’s Akron/Family, the music ranged from reverb-drenched folk rock to ear-splitting distortion freak-outs. Rarely quiet and never predictable, the night was filled with interesting and impressive material from both acts.

Bloomington’s own Resting Rooster started the show just after 9 p.m. With a thick, three-guitar sound and a rock-steady bass and drum rhythm section, its music fell somewhere in between The Impossible Shapes and My Morning Jacket.

Sharp, echoing guitar leads punctuated David Bower’s quivering vocals, around which most songs were built. Yet Rooster tended to soar into outer space at some points as well, interweaving noisy guitar effects with pounding chords and drum fills.

After Resting Rooster left the stage for a short intermission, the three members of Akron/Family began their show with the slow and introspective post-rock meditation of “We all Will.”

As if calming their audience before the storm, the delicate intersection of Seth Olinsky’s guitar with Miles Seaton’s melodic bass line proved to be a poor indicator of what was to come – if there is one thing that Akron/Family’s music is, it’s unpredictable.

Next, the group asked everyone to sing along with a droning note held out on bass and guitar. Out-of-tune voices joining with the rising drone of the instruments built into a cacophony before the Family launched into “Phenomena,” which ended with a roof-melting solo from Olinsky.

The song was much heavier and more energetic than the version from their album “Love Is Simple,” as was “Lake Song/New Ceremonial Music for Moms,” which traded its acoustic guitar intro for a fiery electric lead.

From there, drummer Dana Janssen took the band into an extended drum breakdown, with Seaton banging on a metal chair with a pair of drumsticks and Olinsky tinkling some finger cymbals while blowing into a tin whistle.

That was when things got crazy: Olinsky stepped over to his amp and started playing with some electronics and feedback, filling the room with gashes of screeching noises.

Combined with the still-pounding rhythm, its sound escalated until Olinsky picked up his guitar, and Seaton his bass, and the real psychedelic meltdown began. Locking into a noise-rock climax, the Family clipped off the end of the song perfectly together.
After the tribal “Ed Is A Portal,” the trio hopped off stage and Olinsky started to play and sing a short piano farewell, which was simultaneously cheesy and endearing.

All in all, it was not entirely what I expected to hear from a band with as many folk songs on their albums as freak-outs, but the Family’s playing was incredibly energetic, quirky, and at times, jaw-dropping.

They should be releasing a new album in the near future – hopefully by then my ears will have stopped ringing.