User ratings in Music are temporarily disabled. More info

How to Socialise & Make Friends
by
How to Socialise & Make Friends Image
Metascore
82

Universal acclaim - based on 12 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
7.7

Generally favorable reviews- based on 7 Ratings

  • Summary: The second full-length release for the Australian trio of Georgia McDonald, Kelly-Dawn Hellmrich and Sarah Thompson was recorded in two-and-a-half days.
Buy Now
Buy on

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 12 out of 12
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 12
  3. Negative: 0 out of 12
  1. The 405
    Mar 5, 2018
    85
    Somehow these combined imperfections result in several absolutely perfect moments that will keep How To Socialise & Make Friends on rotation for a good while to come.
  2. AllMusic
    Mar 2, 2018
    80
    McDonald's songwriting is melodic and bittersweet, more often than not tumbling into catharsis and wounded outrage midway through. There's an intense magnetism to her vocals as she wields her emotional sword, channeling vulnerability and danger into something unpredictable and uncomfortably human.
  3. DIY Magazine
    Mar 2, 2018
    80
    To write about topics this intimate is brave. For Camp Cope to do so with honesty and enchanting fury takes a lot of energy--and that is nothing short of valiant.
  4. The Independent (UK)
    Mar 2, 2018
    80
    It’s emo at its finest, and the record ends as emotionally as it begins. By the final track, How to Socialise & Make Friends shows that Camp Cope are driven by the band unapologetically being themselves
  5. Dusted Magazine
    Mar 8, 2018
    80
    You end up thinking, well, of course, a band this ruthlessly observant and unflinching is going to be mad a lot of the time, but how great that they bring the same intensity to love.
  6. Spin
    Mar 19, 2018
    80
    It’s Georgia Maq’s raw-edged vocals you’ll remember, and the consistency of the musical canvas opens space for her to work. Her lyrics articulate human entanglements with a lack of sentimentality that belies how much she cares, and like Hop Along’s Frances Quinlan, she has a gift for evoking shame hand-in-hand with fury.
  7. Exclaim
    Mar 2, 2018
    70
    The highs on How to Socialise are meteoric while the relative lows are kept afloat by its members' musical prowess and McDonald's ability to wring tension and drama from personal adversity. Far from the stand-offish listen its sarcastic title suggests, expect the album to win Camp Cope plenty of new friends and admirers alike.

See all 12 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

Write a Review
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 2
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 2
  3. Negative: 0 out of 2
  1. fwtll636
    May 31, 2018
    7
    There are two sides playing tug-a-war when listening through this album; the side with amazing, powerful, nearly poetic lyricism and the sideThere are two sides playing tug-a-war when listening through this album; the side with amazing, powerful, nearly poetic lyricism and the side where the instrumentation and vocals are practically unlistenable. Never do both sides exist in perfect harmony.… Expand
  2. bigt187
    Apr 5, 2018
    7
    Camp Cope was perfectly able to pass a beautiful first impression to first-time listeners who have not yet kept that simple name in theirCamp Cope was perfectly able to pass a beautiful first impression to first-time listeners who have not yet kept that simple name in their mind. Taking a look at the instagram of the Australian punk rock trio we find a perfect combo that makes any layperson interested in the sound of girls: a mix of political engagement with a beautiful visual allied also to "appetizers", excerpts from shows where the girls got performed well and played well in rock'n'roll. All this in a reinvention does not sound distant or inaccessible. Something good, presume.

    After a debut that passed beat, erased by big names despite a generally good performance, Camp Cope returns with a new job, an honest and introspective work. Released under the label Run for Covers Records, the Australian trio says they recorded everything for two days in between. Covered by the effervescent scene of women's empowerment and the fight against patriarchy in such highly publicized moves as #MeToo, nothing goes unnoticed under the eyes of Georgia McDonald (vocals, guitars), exposing all their vulnerability and sensitivity in a record full of good compositions uniting all this outer chaos with their own inner chaos.

    In a sudden revelation of intimacy, Camp Cope traces a tortuous path through sentimental stories and pains and odes the friendship without leaving aside a political position that penetrates the bony column of the music leading to an attenuated sonorous ecstasy. It is a raw album, marked by exotic vocals, tenebrous and consistent in union with a simple and homemade instrumental. Something so little elaborate, only a sometimes gracious and sometimes coarse accompaniment, which is not even one of the great sins of this work. In moments of clarity, some passages occasionally provide a pleasurable sensation and it is almost possible to see the band in all its magnificence in a beautiful performance where everything seems to work almost perfectly. In contrast, the moments of boredom occasioned by the appreciation generally felt at the low points of the album made me feel like I was trying to save something that was already born dead. Lousy feeling.

    A huddle of good and somewhat lukewarm tracks, perhaps the result of lack of experience or the absence of a guide. All in all, "How to Socialize and Make Friends" is above average, so to speak, an acceptable album, a perfect sound for festivals, governed by the chemistry that the ensemble emanates from behind the failure and the half-forgotten victory beneath the cloths    … Expand

Current Music Releases

Full List »
99 Band on the Run [50th Anniversary Edition] - Paul McCartney & Wings
95 If I don't make it, I love u - Still House Plants
95 The Sky Will Still Be There Tomorrow - Charles Lloyd
91 COWBOY CARTER - Beyoncé
91 Funeral for Justice - Mdou Moctar
91 The Carnegie Hall Concert - Alice Coltrane
90 Spell Blanket: Collected Demos 2006-2009 - Broadcast
90 Here in the Pitch - Jessica Pratt
90 Iechyd Da - Bill Ryder-Jones
90 This Could Be Texas - English Teacher
89 I Got Heaven - Mannequin Pussy
89 Tigers Blood - Waxahatchee
89 All Born Screaming - St. Vincent
88 What Now - Brittany Howard
88 Only God Was Above Us - Vampire Weekend
88 Orquídeas - Kali Uchis
88 The Past Is Still Alive - Hurray for the Riff Raff
87 Filthy Underneath - Nadine Shah
87 i/o - Peter Gabriel
87 Blue Lips - ScHoolboy Q
All Current Music »