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ALBUM REVIEW: "How To Socialise & Make Friends" by Camp Cope

   Camp Cope smash it out of the park once again on their second go around, How To Socialise & Make Friends. Singer/guitarist Georgia Maq, drummer Sarah Thompson and bassist Kelly-Dawn Helmrich use their instantly recognisable folk/punk sound to charge head-on into some of the most incendiary issues in music today, most notably "The Opener", which is a scathing appraisal of "equality" in music. Music aside, the honesty and bravery of this album is to be commended, and it seems like the perfect time for this album to be added to the collective conscience of the music scene. "The Face Of God" is a harrowing look at sexual abuse at the hands of another musician, and the subsequent doubt coming from the fact that "you don't seem like that kind of guy". Every song is chockers with relevant and startlingly strong stories, and when it culminates in "I've Got You", an emotional tribute to Georgia Maq's late father, while you may not feel like you necessarily know her any better than before you certainly will be overwhelmed by the way in which she has opened her life up to her artistry.
   Much like their excellent self-titled debut, How To Socialise & Make Friends rests on a reversal of traditional rock instrumentation by which Georgia Maq's guitar takes a textural back seat to Helmrich's meandering bass melodies. The great thing is that the bass melodies never get in the way of Maq's earnest vocal lines, a balancing act that the band never slip up on across the 38 minute run time. My only reservation is in the way it almost exactly mirrors their 2016 debut, from the instrumentation right down to the final song in each being an emotional tribute to someone lost. Now, if it aint broke then don't fix it, and at this stage I have no qualms with that, but this may be an issue for some. For fans though, including me, How To Socialise & Make Friends is a more than welcome addition to a small but golden collection of songs under the Camp Cope moniker.

   Favourite Songs: How To Socialise & Make Friends, Animal & Real and I've Got You

    Least Favourite Song: The Omen

   Rating: A

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