Review Summary: Money is why they invented sex
I haven't checked out every record in Self Defense Family's illustrious career, but 2014 is undoubtedly 'their' year. Having made a big splash with EP's such as Self Immolation Family and I'm Going Through Some ***, the collective announced their ambition to dominate post-hardcore with their unique bland of hoarse, gravelly music. Very poetic, Patrick Kindlon's lyrics have always been great but here they reach new levels of emotional disturbance, societal displacement and hopelessness in the face of those that cause his alienation.
These songs are fairly simple. Tithe Pig contains a twisting, writhing melody, with Kindlon's lyrics bellowing out aggressive, anti-establishment war cries, with lines like 'toss your phone, it's useless' and 'stay inside and keep watch with me' encouraging a sort of pacifist rebellion. But this is just one side of the multi-faceted monster that is Try Me, with each lyric encompassing the experience of an individual living an ordinary life. It might be reminiscent of a recently departed Sputnikmusic member to compare the stories here to those of La Dispute, but I must stress how the appeal of these songs is much wider than anything Jordan Dreyer, or someone of similar ilk could possibly write.
I'm Going Through Some *** reflected the tragedy of day to day life, represented by someone who understands it the best. Here there's nothing quite as gripping, but both Turn The Fan On and Mistress Appears At A Funeral portray characters stuck in a rut, playing out monotonous lives until they reach the end. The latter song features the gorgeous vocals of Caroline Corrigan, painting a new side to a story wrought with grief from an unlikely perspective. And the other song where these vocals appear, Apport Birds, is even more stunningly beautiful, a grinding, melodic epic featuring softer vocal melodies and jazzy drums.
Instrumentally this band aren't the most diverse, but they mostly manage to mix up enough with catchier guitar lines than previously before, the best example being Fear Of Poverty In Old Age's tense pre chorus. Of course, some songs drag on for far too long to maintain any consistency. Dingo Fence is easily the most boring track here, lacking many interesting features and taking the repetitiveness to a lyrical level with the majority of the song repeating an (intentionally?) cringeworthy lyric. Similarly, the grumpy old man vocals do start to grate just a tiny bit by this point, and you could happily shave this song by five minutes in order to make it less irritating.
Curiously, the thing that most people have claimed to be this album's biggest downfall (the interviews) do not bother me in the slightest. They're initially quite unwelcome and an awkwardly placed element amongst the generally very captivating songs, but the story told within them is such an emotional rollercoaster one wonders how anyone could not see how it ties in with the concept of the entire record. Having put out four excellent EP's this year, the band have more than proven their worth and this is their crowning achievement, a gorgeous display of lyrical perfection exemplified through one of the best post-hardcore bands around.
