Have You Considered Punk Music

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Self Defense Family have made a career -- or at very least a successful ongoing art project -- out of questioning the accepted notions of what punk rock is supposed to be. They play smart, challenging, thought-provoking music without buying into the fast/loud template that generally signifies punk in the ears of most listeners. So when they titled their 2018 album Have You Considered Punk Music, it plays like a statement that could mean any number of things. Are they addressing their fans? Is it meant to be self-reflexive? Is it some sort of joke, playing on their own status as a band at once inside and outside the punk community? Is it a curious non-sequitur? It's probably fitting that ultimately, Self Defense Family leader and lyricist Patrick Kindlon doesn't reveal the purpose behind the title in these ten songs, at least not in any clear manner. But he does deliver a series of intelligent, literate sketches of people caught in particular moments of their lives, some harrowing (a picture of a life on the edge of collapse in "Nobody Who Matters Cares"), some touching (random thoughts on various forms of relationships in "The Supremacy of Pure Artistic Feeling"), and some subtly witty (the litany of pop culture references that comprises "Have You Considered Anything Else"). Kindlon delivers his recitations in a voice that rises from a mumble to the level of an intimate conversation, and the spare, artful musical backdrops, evocative even when they stray from the melodic, match the often-uncertain mood of the lyrics. Ultimately, Have You Considered Punk Music barely falls into the broad category of rock music as a style, let alone punk, but it feels like that's the point. Once again, Self Defense Family have created a work that reveals itself entirely on its own terms, and though Have You Considered Punk Music is often evasive, it still manages to draw in the listener, and it's an experience that's well worth your time. ~ Mark Deming