#troubled monkey

Self Defense Family/Fires - Split | /382 Clear Blue | Troubled Monkey

I bought this record off Ebay while eating falafel at a bar in downtown East Lansing, MI. I’m a big fan of Self Defense Family and I’m always trying to get my hands on their older OOP material. This one materialized for a good price, so I had to jump on it. I had no idea what their songs were like, and had never heard of Fires, but I knew if nothing else it would be interesting.

This ended up being one of, if not, my favorite Self Defense releases. “I Can’t Work A Straight Job” has a very Dischord vibe to it. The verses in this song are perfect. The way the guitars go together is awesome. I really love the repeating higher guitar. “M1911″ is just an acoustic guitar and spoken word. I honestly would love to hear more stuff in this realm. Patrick’s manner of articulation works really well for spoken word. “He tends not to think of himself as happy or unhappy, but constant and existing. He reads a lot.”

Fires track is called “Things We Lost in the Sea”. It starts with a dreamy clean guitar part with some bass notes being played underneath before the drums come in with a simple beat. I feel like I’ve heard this same song a bunch of times. Pretty much every band we played with while on tour with Things Fall Apart in 2012 had a song that sounded like this. This record came out in 2011, so it fits the time table.