Review
Self Defense Family
You Are Beneath Her

Surely there has been a band (not just a group of musicians) that is as forward thinking about what the concept of being a “band” is as Self Defense Family (the band formerly known as End Of A Year), but none that I can think of other than say SunnO))) in the way that collaborators shape the music; You Are Beneath Her is just one piece of evidence to drive home the point, and in all honestly is one of my favorite pieces of recorded music that Self Defense Family / End Of A Year has released and herein may lie the biggest quandary to the concept behind this rotating cast of musicians.

You see, You Are Beneath Her takes four songs from the excellent You Are Beneath Me (the 2010 album from the band then known as End Of A Year) and radically alters them in a spellbinding manner by, at the core of the release, substituting female vocalist Caroline Corrigan for the band’s normal vocalist (the irascible and witty Patrick Kindlon); the effect is a dramatic transformation for all of the songs as Corrigan’s delivery of Kindlon’s lyrics gives a wildly different perspective to the songs, and while making the songs uncomfortably poppy, this EP is given a completely changed gravitas, particularly the now acoustic “Eric Hall”.

Hearing a woman sing “Give me a call when your marriage dissolves… some things you can’t plan” is jarring in more than a couple of aspects in that it feels more than acceptable or at least not completely out of character for Kindlon to deliver these lines, but when Corrigan sings them in an almost “smoky” tone the song becomes more transgressive sounding (in context Kindlon seems an outspoken opponent of marriage whereas we have absolutely no context for Corrigan) and more challenging to the social institution of marriage in the former and an admonishment in the latter line; there is also another mood entirely in that Kindlon’s version (backed by the electric and more aggressive instrumentation) sounds as though he is waiting to say “I told you so” to the audience, whereas Caroline’s version sounds much more sad and offers a sense of longing with a particularly stiff resignation that is wholly unique to her version.

Now Mr. Kindlon has been publicly deprecating regarding his vocal abilities even though they certainly fit the tone and tenor of the songs that Self Defense Family write, and You Are Beneath Her does not so much as drive that point home but rather this EP does show how his lyrical prowess is not just excellent but they are rich with the kind of mutability with which timeless songs are made and Miss Corrigan’s betrays this fact in a way that while many love Tom Waits there are those that while they cannot abide the man’s music, they adore his covers sung by others. Even on songs like “Philip Jose Farmer” where both versions are virtually identical, Caroline’s delivery immensely changes the song by then turning the tide making her version sound like whereas Kindlon’s is given the transgressive feeling (“Reach your hand up my skirt while the other raids my purse” indeed).

Regardless of the interesting juxtaposition of perspective from the original versions of these songs, You Are Beneath Me also shows the undeniable musical ability of not just the musicians of Self Defense Family but also the talent of the other artists that are involved with the band; this EP is an awesome record and not just an interesting novelty that is sure to win over even the most humorless and adventure-less of listeners.