Social Repose – “Yalta” Review

Posted: by Sean Gonzalez

This is tough. I know what people will think. Really, Sean? That guy? Is it even serious enough to be real? 

What if I had to say that I’m not a cynical narcissist, and have too “struggled?” I once was at a spelling bee competition in fifth grade and only got four of the 25 words right. I wasted hours of my life with that and I’m not sure someone else understands the embarrassment and pity I felt but my mom never talked about. For whatever reason, that moment of awkward failure is clawing at me as I sit here and type this review. Social Repose is the project of a youtuber, and a rather controversial one to people. He (Richie Giese) wears a headdress and is fashioned in the same style of faux emo that I’m sure people have thought about trying to pull off but never did. Oh yea, he has his first album being released and it is called Yalta.

The guy looks like the rather arrogant punk that would walk into a metal show and breakdance and throw disco moves in along side just to gather attention. But hidden in all this there is a bit of talent. The dude can sing pretty well to be honest. He has that same faux punk emo that could be the high pitched singing voice of your favorite metalcore band and a rather decent mid range that he enjoys almost whispering in a lot. In terms of melody, Giese can construct a vocal melody over the rather absent presence of ambient music lurking in his songs. It’s not entirely as thoughtless as I thought it could be. While cheesy at times with a line like, “just remember all love has a beginning, all love has an end” (“Arctic Eyes”) It’s a statement of obviousness but probably a soothing relief to the people that need to hear it. “Island Of Yours” has incredible percussion to be quite honest. The rather choppy poetic singing is met with warm embodiments of piano and the pounding, frantic rhythm. “Demons” is a dark and twisting track armed with twinkle toe bells, strings and pretty emotional lyrics.

If gothic ambience is your thing, then listen to Yalta, if not, maybe listen to a song just to decide whether or not you might like it. Sometimes it can surprise you, Social Repose is really a thing.

Score: 6/10