The Social Union - Guessing Games Album Review

I think it was Gramsci that said "each individual is a product of existing relations, but also of the history of those relations" or something like that. To say that the Social Union's first full length, Guessing Games, could be boiled down to that statement borders on an unhelpful overgeneralization. Isn't every song that was ever written a testament to that statement? It might be the best way to put it, though. Perhaps we could say that the theme of Guessing Games is a testament to the very social nature of individual relations to oneself and others - a sort of nice Hegelian observation. Maybe even the story of what made up that person qua the social relations that created them. But enough of these speculations.

More precisely, every track on this LP is about some sort of social relationship: in "Straight Line to the Sun" - "two friends make their claims with their interests the same;" in "Spiders" we get "you'll never fall back into place;" in "Love in Memory" - "all your love is all I see;" in "Another Way to Run" - "you always find a way to run away from all your problems;" ad infinitum. Whether we have a comment on someone else's relationship to their self, the narrator's relationship to someone else, two other person's relationship to each other. Not once on this album is there a song about going out and getting drunk/partying, nor enjoying life for the hell of it, nor crime, nor alcohol, etc. God is that refreshing, this album is serious and takes itself seriously.

The lyrical topics are like non-trite and more sophisticated versions of Goo Goo Dolls songs. Somewhere between John Mayer and Ben Gibbard, the lyrics aren't going to win awards, but they certainly stand out on an album with pop sensibilities and pop song structures. Exceptional is the song "Love in Memory," which, by my reading, is an atheist's meditation on the death of a loved one: "And the charter seems to have a plan/but I can't seem to understand/when vultures circle overhead/and nothing's changed and nothing's said" - for me, this is someone trying to find a meaning in death where there is none, nor any transcendent power.

Musically speaking, most of the songs here do not deviate from the intro/verse/chorus/verse/chorus/bridge or solo/chorus. There are notable exceptions, and these exceptions have a bearing on the future of The Social Union's music. In "Another Way to Run" we have the usual song structure, but a build where the burner is turned up on the intensity of the music until it nearly boils over. The same goes for "Blue or Grey" - there is a strong build and it's awesome. It turns this song into a stand out. The title track, "Guessing Games" is the most interesting song on the album for several reasons. I think I can encapsulate what's most interesting about this song by saying that it almost a post-rock track. The build is steady, and the bridge is a long one.

That gets to what I mean by the future of the Social Union. This is an undoubtedly great alternative/indie LP, but where does the Social Union go from here? There are awesome guitar solos from multi-instrumentalist Jason Dirig, there some sick drums and crystal-clear production from producer/instrumentalist Jason Staniulis, dope lyrics with a strong message, positive Left political themes, and the like. But I sense that the next album will seem redundant and lost if it's "more of the same," so to speak. This is the trap that the Goo Goo Dolls and Mumford and Sons fell into - two or three albums with the same sound/theme(s) gets boring. The Social Union needs some sort of different viewpoint with which to intone the gospel of social relations and alienation, whether they embrace post-rock, or progressive song structures, or a more guitar driven approach - I look forward to the result.

I think my favorite part of the music on these tracks is the passion and skill with which it is played. Every note feels urgent, necessary, planned, and well executed. Of anything besides ideology, I listen for passion first in music - passion makes things memorable and "hits you right in the feels," so to speak. This LP does not disappoint: it excels in this department. I think the only detractions on this album are a couple of songs in the middle, and perhaps the lyrics to "All Your Faces." Specifically "Song for Mary" and "Wheel" miss the mark a little bit. In "Song for Mary," there is a distinct lack of dynamics and a notable difference in production quality - by the 6th or 7th time through the album I just skipped the song every time. In "Wheel" I don't feel the same sense of urgency that I get on the rest of the album - though the restful, chill nature of the song works well in terms of the album as a whole. "Another Way to Run" and "Guessing Games" are certainly amazing bookends to any full-length - nothing short of fucking awesome. I get chills every single time the last chord of "Another Way to Run" rings out to eternity. Likewise, I feel like I'm laying on a cloud after the last vocal harmonies of "Guessing Games" ring out and only the bass harmonics are left to carry the song into the sky. What an exceptional piece of work.

Hits: "Another Way to Run," "Blue or Grey," "Straight Line to the Sun," "Spiders," "Love in Memory," "Guessing Games"

Misses: "Wheel," "Song for Mary"

Rating: 9/10

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