Following ‘Leeds’, which dropped last month, and ‘Long Island’, which they released earlier this month, prolific Cohoes, New York-based post-punk collective Self Defense Family have unveiled ‘Australia’, the latest in a series of 7″ singles the band have named after their recording locations. The single’s A-side is titled ‘Make Me a Pallet Fire on Your Floor’, while its B-side is called ‘Local Clerics’. Check ‘Make Me a Pallet…’ out below.
Whilst ‘Australia’ doesn’t boast the crunching, heavy riffs of ‘Long Island’ nor the brooding intensity of ‘Leeds’, on both its songs Self Defense Family deliver in spades the wry, jangly post-punk sound they explored on their sixth album, ‘Have You Considered Punk Music’ (2018), then perfected on their subsequent EP, ‘Performative Guilt’ (2019).
Both songs have a guitar sound that is nicely melodic without ever getting sickly-sweet, and frontman Patrick Kindlon’s rasping vocals are the perfect delivery mechanism for the tracks’ cynical, dryly humorous lyrics. Fans of bands like Lungfish, Unwound, La Dispute, Touché Amoré, and Protomartyr would be well-advised to check ‘Australia’ out. The single is available to stream via the usual platforms now. The physical record is available to pre-order and will be released on June 29th.
