Self Defense Family
Colicky
(Iron Pier)
Self Defense Family’s newest release, Colicky, is another in a long line of short releases from the Post-Hardcore collective. The band features a rotating cast of musicians, none of whom have played on every recording or every live show, but at this point, vocalist Pat Kindlon, is certainly the most consistent, recognizable and polarizing member of the group.
This new mini-LP–a four song EP pressed on a 12″ record–is the band’s fourth release through Iron Pier and it carries on a few themes from prior releases. The most obvious recurring element is in presentation, this EP features a portrait of a woman on it’s cover like we have seen on a few other SDF releases, most recently their Run For Cover EP Superior. This recurring element in their art direction is a direct nod to Roxy Music, albeit decidedly much more safe for work. The other consistent thread–this one showing some wear–is the band’s creative process which differs from traditional song writing and production. Self Defense Family does very little prep work for each release. At its best this allows the band to show off some truly off the cuff and expressionistic ideas, but at it’s worst it becomes a platform for Pat Kindlon to moan some cynical mantra over a gratingly repetitive riff. Typically these songs need some time and perhaps a shuffling in the lineup to come to life and so Self Defense Family are like a weird, Punk-Jam band; they’re more exciting live due in large part to Kindlon’s badgering stage presence.
Colicky presents a few interesting wrinkles to the band’s sound and thankfully sheds some of the more un-listenable aspects that have been amplified on recent releases due to particularly dry production. The main riff of the opening track “Staying Current” is reminiscent of A Sun That Never Sets era Neurosis until Kindlon’s off-key vocals slip into the mix. Kindlon’s singing voice has marred plenty of SDF releases in the past, but it’s mostly effective here as it is absolutely drenched in reverb and only rubs the wrong way on a few passes. The band have been not too accurately compared to mewithoutYou, but the album’s second track “All True At the Same Time” offers up perhaps the best case for that comparison as the arpeggiated guitar chords, strong bass line the swelling verse/chorus transitions sound a little like something that might have closed out Catch for Us the Foxes. It’s understated and is perhaps the strongest offering on this release. Kindlon is nearly absent from “It Isn’t Very Clear Is It,” a three and a half minute drum and bass groove with sparse guitar chords and heavily filtered and reverbed vocals for shading. The closing track, “Brittany Murphy In 8 Mile” revives the band’s heavier sound with more Neurosis like drumming, distorted bass and Kindlon shifting back into his standard bark, but the seven minute run time vents too much of it’s steam along the way. Colicky is presented as an unflinching look at a disintegrating romantic relationship, but with one nearly instrumental track and an otherwise buried vocalist we only get a few glimpses at the raw nerve that should be throbbing through the lyrics. Colicky lands somewhere in the middle between cerebral and cathartic and unfortunately never really rises above a mild fuss.
