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Home Today's Stories CD Review: Social Code – He Said, She Said
January 7, 2009
CD Review: Social Code – He Said, She Said PDF Print E-mail
Wednesday, 12 November 2008 21:35
By Tyler Bothe – GJD Contributor
Edmonton's own Social Code recently recorded the follow-up to their 2004 small hit 'A Year at the Movies,’ and with tours alongside bands like Rise Against, Fall Out Boy, and Deftones in support of that album, they've cultivated a following that will most likely snatch up their latest release He Said, She Said instantly. 

Nowadays recording is less of a chore for these boys up north as they have, since their last release, gutted the basement of bassist Logan Jacob's home for a studio of their own and not lost a drop of production value in the process.  Now, while the band itself had help on this five track EP by long vetted producer Howard Benson, (Hawthorne Heights, My Chemical Romance) and others, the band has seemed to find its groove by taking the reigns on its latest release. 

With this one, the band has mixed its sound of a little bit Rise Against, a little bit Sugarcult; leaning more towards the pop hits that caught everyone's attention in the beginning.  The title track of He Said, She Said captures that feeling the best with Morgan Gies’ staccato guitars leading the way for the sing-a-long chorus that takes the same feeling they had with their past single "A Whisper to a Scream" but gives it that extra punch that was missing the first time around.

Lyrically this album can be a bit of a miss with lines like "in a late November/on a lonely road/I zipped up my sweater/cause I got cold" as on the last track 'Everyday (Late November)', but it's not enough to strangle the energy that's brought vocally on songs like 'Beautiful' with the mid-chorus shouts bringing a punch that was otherwise lacking the aggression it needed. 

What's noticeable on this release is the lack of grit and screams that gave them their punk sounding edge in the beginning of their careers, and it's apparent from this newest release those kind of songs will be a thing of the past.  Going in this softer sounding direction will more likely than not throw Social Code into their very own musical social arena, garnering fans who are already swept off their feet by the sounds of similar demographic appeasement, and be able to expand much easier then if they went closer to the angst ridden material hidden in their previous set lists. 

In the end, this abbreviated album doesn't hold the single that will put them on the top ten of any soft-shoed teenagers Ipod playlist, but it's right around the corner. http://www.socialcodemusic.com

 
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