"MAJOR CONGRATS"
POST SOCIAL
POST SOCIAL:
Shannon Connor: Vocals, Guitars, Bass Guitar, Keyboards
Mitch Deitz: Vocals, Guitars
Sam Galligan: Bass Guitar
Brendan Manley: Drums, Percussion, Guitar, Bass Guitar
with
Ritt Deitz: Acoustic Guitar on "Sand Wand"
Wilder Deitz: Keyboards on "Sticky Hands"
Isaac De Broux-Slone: Drums on "From Distance"
All music by Post Social
All lyrics by Shannon Connor/Mitch Deitz
Mastered by Justin Perkins at Mystery Room
Produced by Ricky Reimer at Science Of Sound, located in Madison, WI
Released June 29, 2018
If I possessed a magic wand, I would wave it around with the ability to enter the music of Post Social into everyone's consciousness.
For the better part of these past four years, I have been supremely enchanted with the music of the Madison, WI based band Post Social whose textured, nuanced yet euphorically composed, produced and performed indie rock not only invigorated my musical spirit upon the very first listen of the first album, the band has also pushed open the doors of my perception regarding the artists that populate the continuously exciting, inviting and wholly impressive Madison music community.
From their mesmerizing self titled debut
(released December 6, 2014), to the DIY post punk rock aesthetics of their second album
"Young Randolphs" (released October 3, 2015) and the stunning, widescreen dreamworld of their third album
"Casablanca" (released July 30, 2016), what Post Social has achieved for me extends far beyond just making good songs or albums. It is indeed the sheer unadulterated joy in which these four your men create as well as the seriousness they place within their art. There is no ego involved. No evidence of jadedness. Only devotion to the song itself. And those qualities are not only what enlivens my love of this band (plus their contemporaries in this community), it has often equaled or even eclipsed the work of long established artists that I listen to and cherish.
For a band that is typically prolific and without any shortage of new material, it has indeed been two long years since the release of "Casablanca" due to their increasing life responsibilities with college, day jobs and musical commitments to additional Madison bands plus also adjusting to the grim realities of an increasingly politically fascistic era in the band's home state of Wisconsin plus the nation at large.
"Major Congrats," Post Social's long gestating fourth album, is more than worth the extended wait as they have conceived and formulated an album experience that not only builds upon all of their past releases, especially "Casablanca"...it quite possibly exceeds them. Armed with a palpable aggression, a tightly focused force and an unprecedented lyrical directness, the band sounds hungrier than ever as they have created a release that almost feels like a briskly thrown speedball straight down the middle hitting every single target in its formidable path.
With "Casablanca," I remarked that it sounded as if Post Social had created their own version of
"Led Zeppelin III" (released October 5, 1970) as they widened their musical canvas, flowing to musical avenues not yet traveled. With Major Congrats," I first felt as if they had possibly created their version of Led Zeppelin's
untitled fourth album (released November 8, 1971). but upon more listens and even reading the lyrics on closer inspection, I think that a better comparison would be
The Who's monumental
"Who's Next" (released August 25, 1971). With "Major Congrats," Post Social has returned with a roar.
Functioning as an album overture, "Major Congrats" kicks the doors open with the raging, hard driving
"Outside Man," on which the guitars of Mitch Deitz and Shannon Connor charge and snarl ferociously while the superior rhythm section of bassist Sam Galligan and drummer Brendan Manley keep the song propelled at light speed. After an instrumental preamble that endures for nearly three minutes, Deitz's lead vocals enter the fray with a stern warning.
"Don't shake hand with an outside man
Who'll run you down and run you out
Don't look down on our small towns
They'll vote you out and vote you down..."
As with past albums, Mitch Deitz's lyrics are indeed open to interpretation, for I am unsure if they are meant to directly confront a specific political figure occupying our state Capitol building or even the other pseudo-political figure occupying the Oval Office or else something or someone more metaphorical but his delivery is nearly feral in its urgency. And when Deitz hits his speaker shaking howl of
"Don't....Look....DOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWNNNNNN!!!" he has created his
Roger Daltrey /"Won't Get Fooled Again" moment perfectly. Trust me. The hairs on the back of your neck will rise.
From that aforementioned howl of defiance, we dive into a howl of despair without taking a breath, as the band launches into the relentless inner turmoil of
"Creeping Up," a paranoid, self-lacerating ode of feared failure with Shannon Connor taking his first set of lead vocals and lyrics on the album.
We next receive a bit of a breather with
"Sand Wand," whose languid feel, via Connor's slide guitar as well as the nearly sitar styled swirl of Connor and Deitz's electric guitars, perfectly delivers a sound that feels to match its own title. But don't be fooled.
"It's not a pretty picture/It keeps me up all day," sings Deitz.
"I wear it on me/ It wears down on me...But it's sustainable/Making me stable." What we have is a song that may suggest tranquility, yet it is tension filled. There are demons abound but at least for now, they are being precariously held at bay.
Floodgates open with the arrival of
"Before It Starts," a propulsive storm of a song starring Connor's empathetic yet anxious vocals threatening to being overtaken by the band's furious pace, which drummer Brendan Manley continuously threatens to push even faster.
"Put my trust in the Liberal Arts
It's over before it starts
I know I can't make plans if I don't understand
Where I'd be with a real degree, if you'd wanna be with me
The deal is I'm feeling rough
Think I've had it with this stuff
I want to be so sincere
But I just sink when your near
And it gets worse for every mile
I might be cursed
It's so worthwhile"
Here is where Shannon Connor really begins to showcase a greater lyrical depth than ever before as "Before It Stars" speaks directly to an existential worry of life speeding past you before you have had a chance to properly engage with it and in the process, potentially losing those closest to your heart as well as yourself. While the foursome are clearly working like the Devil musically and having a blast with it, Connor shows a nearly
John Lennon or
Paul Westerberg-esque approach by inserting content that sounds so nakedly personal yet it is subjectively hidden in the song's whirlwind attack, giving the album a hefty emotional pull at the conclusion of its first four tracks, only to find some respite, however brief, in its fifth selection.
After the album's opening warning to not look down, we are asked to do just that in the album's next track, entitled
"Look Down." With a lyrical and vocal presentation that, to my ears, suggesting nothing less than
Brian Wilson, Connor treats himself to a beautifully melodic inner pep talk.
"Don't give up on yourself/Don't worry if you feel like you're somebody else/There's more time than you think, get something to drink and out of the house," he sings and in encouragement, his bandmates bash along confidently.
With its primitive drum machine beat, minimal keyboards and shimmering guitars, the oddly titled
"Popeye," feels like an extension of tracks like
"Green Screen" and
"Haunt Me" from "Young Randolphs." This track allows the band to settle into a relative sonic calmness but again trying to keep those demons of loneliness, insignificance and failure at bay.
"Take a picture of your life now as you turn the lights down
You keep on flinching
You keep your distance
Sit and watch that paint dry, lonely way to get by
Keep your patience, you're still waiting"
With the melodic power-pop waterfall of
"Savor," Post Social ascends to a newfound level of grace.
"Missed the meaning, ask again," sings Mitch Deitz and as his aesthetic, I am still unsure as to what this song might actually mean. But in some cases, it doesn't matter what it means when you know how the song makes you
feel. And for me, this song in which the band hits some gloriously tight choirboy harmony vocals, makes me feel as if I am soaring and flying.
The aggression returns with the punk rock temper tantrum that is the brutal
"Better Off Dead" during which Shannon Connor, armed with his crying slide guitar, laments
"I'm fucking up somehow." The foot stomping dust continues to be superbly kicked around with the crashing yet groove fueled
"Imaginary Prize." And with the stunning, exquisite
"Hold This Side Close," Post Social makes a rare return to the sound that made me fall in love with them upon their first album, that inexplicable blending of textures and rhythms that recalls
The Police, Tortoise, Real Estate, Television and 1980's era
King Crimson. Yet this time, the lyrics match the brutality of our current landscape as Connor sings,
"Each generation is more sadistic."
The album reaches its harshest levels with the slashing
"From Distance" starring Mitch Deitz's stinging guitars and augmented by Brendan Manley supplying a growling bear of a bass guitar performance and special guest star
Isaac De Broux-Sloane of the Madison, WI based band
Disq performing the drums, and sounding as if he has left Manley's drum kit cymbals in shards.
The album's penultimate selection entitled,
"Never Coming Back" is shattering. Just plain shattering, so much so that I actually seriously considering reaching out to Shannon Connor due to the effectiveness of his devastating lyrics, singing and acoustic delivery which showcased not simply a heart worn upon its sleeve but of nerve endings completely exposed to the world.
"I'm so tired of who I am
Force myself to accept the plan
Cut me off a little slack
Say I'm never coming back..."
Again, comparisons to both Paul Westerberg and John Lennon are considerably earned as Connor has opened a new venue for his lyrical approach, one that feels to be simultaneously frightening and resoundingly brave. In doing so, Post Social as a whole only allows itself to extend themselves creatively, revealing a new emotional playground to write songs within.
"Major Congrats" comes to a close with the slow burn of
"Sticky Hands," which features eerie keyboard work from
Wilder Deitz of Madison's
Wilder Deitz Singers R&B/jazz organization (plus also being Mitch's brother), was written, recorded and finalized in merely one day! Again, Mitch Deitz's lyrics are open to interpretation as the song could either function as a weary sense of resignation or as prophetic commentary as the song allows the album to double end upon itself as the figure of the "Outside Man" returns.
"Outside man
You're the friend I never knew I had
You're the friend I wish you really weren't
But I'm holding on to find your worth
Someday you'll learn..."
With the rising tension as found in Wlder Deitz's organ, Mitch Deitz's tight harmonies and the building groove within the rhythm section, Brendan Manley's drums bring the song to full explosive psychedelic fury before allowing the ashes to fall and the smoke to completely clear, leaving just what in its wake?
Post Social's "Major Congrats" is a tougher, darker experience than any of the band's past three efforts. In comparison to the often ethereal "Casablanca," this new album is bracingly grounded, defiantly more streetwise and often existentially angst ridden, thus eliciting a sense that these young men have some distinct wounds that need licking and healing or even further, they are each trying to make sense of a world that is indeed much darker and exceedingly more angst and anxiety ridden than when they released their first album as high school teenagers. With "Major Congrats," all four members of Post Social feel to be entering this new life chapter and phase in our cultural history as a veritable gang of four, a band of brothers meeting each experience together, supporting each other along the way.
As the members are at the start of their 20's, it should be noted that despite the youth of their ages, Post Social is not a young band. Mitch Deitz, Shannon Connor, Sam Galligan and Brendan Manley are now veterans, seasoned songwriters, signers, producers and musicians who thankfully and beautifully approach their material with the joyousness of that very first time. As dark as "Major Congrats" actually is, it is also wondrous to hear the sheer euphoria at work just hearing these people playing and creating together.
Beyond the unadulterated fun, there is a seriousness to their art that has been incredible to observe from the sidelines, as well as through listening. I am still amazed with just how good they were on that very first album. Yet, what has impressed me even more over the years is to see how they refuse to rest upon any laurels and simply repeat themselves
ad nauseum. Post Social is always looking towards what they next song could potentially be, always ensuring that the song itself remains the star and not just any one member.
After creating two albums entirely upon their own, it felt correct to these new songs that they return to working with Producer Ricky Reimer within an official studio setting rather than at home. For musicians who typically craft their albums all by themselves, it served these songs best to have guest musicians join in the collaboration. To that end, just look at Sam Galligan himself, a fearsome and frighteningly fluid bassist who knows that if by
not appearing upon a song will serve the song the very best, he will do so and without any sense of ego whatsoever.
And even with these conceptual changes, it shows how good this band actually happens to be as they keep allowing themselves to grow from album to album and with "Major Congrats," they have proven themselves to have grown as singers as well as songwriters. Shannon Connor in particular has made a revelatory leap for himself as he continues to strengthen his guitar skills certainly, but this time, his songwriting has opened itself up tremendously as the confessional nature widens the emotional palate of the songs. This quality makes him serve as a perfect counterpoint to Mitch Deitz's gregarious yet enigmatic rock star and they are both superbly anchored and pushed by Galligan and Brendan Manley's formidable, sweat soaked performances.
The very best thing that I can say about Post Social is that while their musical influences are refreshingly wide and varied, they are never obvious, making them that rare band who sound like no one else other than themselves as they gradually create their own musical language and universe. In doing so, they stand apart from their contemporaries while also defying expectations along the way.
From the very beginning with me, they defied my expectations of what a band in high school could actually sound like. Now years later, and growing so accustomed to their sound, "Major Congrats" threw me quite a number of considerable curve balls, fully defying my expectations as certain sonic qualities I love about the band are either in extremely short supply, or have been transformed into something entirely new or have been abandoned altogether. What was once crystalline is now like a punch in the face. What was once youthful abandon is now tracked with honest pain, worry, concern, and confusion over what just may arrive next in life.
In a year during which all manner of musical artists have seemingly picked up a gauntlet and challenged themselves to push their gifts and their art further, Post Social's "Major Congrats" fully represents that conceit as they have crafted one of the best albums I have heard in 2018. Major congrats are indeed in order for these young men who fully deserve any and all great attention they receive.
I'll look for that magic wand to ensure that it happens for them.
