Self Defense Family – Have You Considered Punk Music
An album that is simultaneously devious and gorgeous is what Self Defense Family offer on their third longer player, Have You Considered Punk Music
Self Defense Family are perhaps one of the most underrated bands currently active. They sit in a similar space to Copenhagen's Iceage – too punk for indie crowds, too indie for punk crowds – which is a shame, because Self Defense Family are perhaps one of the most exciting guitar bands out there right now. Originally a post-hardcore band called End of a Year, central duo Patrick Kindlon (vocals) and guitarist Andrew Duggan made the switch with 2014's excellent Try Me, and since have been perfecting their craft with a rotating cast and crew (family) of members across the US and UK, depending on where they happen to be at the time.
This has meant the band have been able to be relentlessly prolific, putting out EPs and singles or splits seemingly every other month, though their crowning achievement remains their last full-length Heaven is Earth. On that record's title track, the band showed a new, more atmospheric side to their sound, one they've largely been pursuing ever since, leading us here, to the band's third full-length, the brilliantly titled Have You Considered Punk Music.
Paradoxically, despite having an almost entirely clean guitar-sound this time around, this is the band's darkest material yet. Opener, The Supremacy of Pure Artistic Feeling is an instant statement of the band's simultaneous deviousness and gorgeousness, which is a feeling that never really lets up over its 40 minutes until the seemingly krautrock-influenced The Right Kind of Adult. Come join the family.
Listen to: The Supremacy of Pure Artistic Feeling, Nobody Who Matters Cares, The Right Kind of Adult