"We're not scared of our influences," says Self Defense Family singer and lyricist Patrick Kindlon, "and plenty of them come from Baltimore. We saw recording in that city as an opportunity to channel some of those influences. Then we ran the tracks through a filter of Mary's combusting relationship. The result is songs guaranteed to bring you the fuck down." Recorded during a time of personal turmoil for several of the members, the two songs on When The Barn Caves In channel that disquiet. Guitarist Benjamin Tate says "Almost everyone was in a bad mood and feeding off of each other. Writing was way more of a struggle than it usually is and I think everyone came away from the day unhappy with the songs," but upon hearing them "unlike...almost any other recording I have ever done, I had almost no feedback on them. The songs sound huge and warm and even the songwriting seems better than I remember it being. I left the session feeling defeated and now I would say this will be among my favorite recordings to come out this year."

When The Barn Caves In is available on colored 7-inch vinyl, limited cassette, and as a digital download.

Self Defense Family on this record is Patrick Kindlon, Chris Tenerowicz, Benjamin Tate, Alan Huck, Mary Brulatour, and Kai Stone. It was recorded, engineered, and mixed by J. Robbins at Magpie Cage recording studios and mastered for digital and vinyl by Carl Saff. Record art by Alan Huck and layout by Huck and David Vibert/Iron Pier.