Akron/Family is a weird band to untangle, especially if you come at them armed with preconceptions about what a band ought to be.

But even looking back to their hushed, folksy debut - released in 2005 under Young God Records - it's fair to say that the members of Akron/Family have embraced a wide swath of influences, experimenting with their fusion freely as they did so.

Increasingly, that tendency has them weaving ever-more complex narratives into the modern pop song, even as they further hone their ability to make such creations seamless, stand-alone gems.

Take the intro cut on their latest album, Set 'Em Wild, Set 'Em Free, which dropped in May. Originally released as a single, "Everyone is Guilty" eases in with a chunky, funked-up bass and guitar line that immediately summons Captain Beefheart - and rolls with it for a full minute. From there, chanting vocals surface in an easy, warm pace before rising in tempo with the frantic percussion; that climax slams into a Beatles-pop bridge, heads down a path built on prog-rock power chords, and eventually dissolves into a bluesy 1970s rocker.

As if to cue the fact that the ride is coming to an end, the Beefheart vibe abruptly cuts back in, this time with vocals softly chanting "everyone" over top. The bizarre modern rock lullaby finally fades out with a graceful symphonic serenade.

At just under six minutes, the highly layered intro track is a hell of a way to break listeners in. But despite the wild pin-balling across the genre universe, Akron manages to pull off a sort of time-warp voodoo within "Everyone is Guilty" that makes the piece seem to fly by.

Whether the album title is a farewell to founding member Ryan Vanderhoof (this is the first album without his contributions), or the remaining members simply wish to set wild and free all conceptions of boundaries and inhibitions, is unclear. What is abundantly clear, though, is that Akron/Family reaches a new level of unbridled, carefree experimentalism, and that they do it better than most.

That formula works well, especially for our fragmented musical era, because it gives Akron room to explore everything from preciously soft freak folk to avant-jazz grooves and biting metal riffs. Tying it together is the band's propensity for fast-paced improvisational jams, the vivacity of which allows them to get away with goofy diversions, and ultimately enshrines the music as pure rock 'n' roll.

It's also this ability to inject otherwise abstract songs with cohesive freak-outs that makes Akron such a famed live presence. While the Akron foundation remains the original three members - Dana Janssen, Seth Olinsky and Miles Seaton - the band at times swells to orchestral proportions, adding to the mayhem that is their sound. And while that expanded cast works well at the many outdoor fests they've played over the years, they also know how to make the most of a tight club.

That is a good quality to possess when you have a repertoire as multifarious as Akron/Family.

Some songs, like "River," are pervaded by a gentle, melodic sense of pop that was perfectly captured on songs like "Phenomena" from their 2007 release Love is Simple. Even the seemingly raucous title track, "Set 'Em Free," is a luscious cut defined by a lovely warmth loaded with country licks and a hippie lightheartedness.

If Set 'Em Wild distances itself from any of their previous work, it may only be in the sense that this album sees Akron leave behind the more primitive and rowdy songs (tribal in spirit and well-suited for the bonfire) for more modern collages.

Still, the core trademark of their songs - chanting repetitive lyrics over rhythmic, jamming grooves as songs roam from genre to genre - remains strong here, even if they are soaking in more diverse influences.

The Akron sound, at least in terms of their ever-increasing genre dubbing, may well be the sound of our times. It's true that much of American music has been a fusion of various genres and influences, from African work songs to Celtic folk and more.

But in a time when all the music of the world is available at the touch of your fingertips and every listener carries a lifetime worth of songs in his pocket, it takes visionary minds to interpret that fractured environ and come up with a new aesthetic to suit it.

Akron/Family does that, and they are well on their way to crafting a style all their own that soaks up the complexity of the modern world and translates it into stunning rock 'n' roll. 

Who: Akron Family

What: Lexicon rock

Where: Johnny Brenda's, Frankford and Girard avenues

When: Friday, Sept. 11, at 8 p.m.