‘Try Me’, Self Defense Family’s first full-length since switching names from End Of A Year, is every bit as challenging as its title suggests. It’s a raw, emotional work, one that flatly refuses to take the easy way out.
The record follows a string of strong split and 7” releases - including Caroline Corrigan’s excellent reworking of ‘You Are Beneath Me’ songs on ‘You Are Beneath Her’ - and takes another step forward, offering malleable structures to support Patrick Kindlon’s evocative, often bleak, lyrics.
At the core of ‘Try Me’ is a 38 minute interview with Angelique Bernstein, a former porn actress who performed under the screen name Jeanna Fine. Like the record itself, these sections are unvarnished and free from any sugar-coating. Bernstein’s words are harrowing and heartbreaking, delivered in a deep, halting voice that betrays the scars of a life lived.
It’s not something that will garner repeat listens, but it’s emblematic of what Self Defense Family are doing here: reappraising subjects that many are happy to see remain on the margins, suitable only for embarrassing exchanges and reductive gender stereotyping.
In a recent conversation with Kindlon, for Deathwish’spodcast, Touché Amoré’s Jeremy Bolm said: “I ended up just getting real sad. It’s some of the saddest stuff I’ve ever heard and it’s got such a reality to it...it’s fucking heavy. It’s like Requiem For A Dream, I don’t need to watch it again.”
The rest of the record feeds off that harsh reality, with each song a narrative piece. Kindlon addresses emotional abuse in relationships on the coruscating Tithe Pig, loss, through reference to religion as a crutch, on Apport Birds and skewers lazy, one-note music on the outstanding Aletta: “Idiots love an anthem.”
Corrigan, meanwhile, lends vocals to the beautiful Mistress Appears At Funeral, a fascinating look at grief and the structure of mourning. ‘Try Me’ is a challenge worth accepting. You won’t find many more interesting records this year.
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