4 out of 5

Label: Deathwish / Run for Cover Records

Produced by: ?

This is a really good pairing. Self Defense Family often buck some of the stylistic trends of hardcore punk (as much as they occasionally play into them, of course), and Creative Adult – appearing here care of Run for Cover Records – feel like slightly more of a Discord bent than Deathwish’s general sound. Both bands are also examining our daily lives on this split – CA looking top down; SDF from within.

Americans, from Creative Adult, isn’t a wholly original piss take, rattling off capitalistic indulgences of the common multiple credit-card owning titular resident, but the stomping guitars and beat, and the building ire of the vocals and lyrics make it the kind of tune to pump your fist to (…though maybe to punch yourself in the face). The track can’t quite stick the landing, running out of slogans in its last verse and just repeating the previous one, preventing any grand conclusion, but it’s still a powerful, noteworthy track.

On the B-side, Self Defense Family go completely minimalist and unpunk, with a spoken vocal and a background beat and light melody, as the lyrics trace an ode to listlessness, or depression, circular, sighed thoughts rattled off. The beat slowly, slowly builds, and while the track never tips over into punk or rock, despite its relative quiet it’s also quite powerful, and sustains its tension throughout.