Social Gravy Delivers the Special Sauce

Social Gravy is an LA-based alt-rock duo made up of Vee Bordukov and Brad Kohn. They create what they call “Romantic rock n roll” influenced by the likes of Neil Young and The Beatles. The music is heavy on emotion, insightful lyricism, and solid musical performances. Like their influences before them, Social gravy is all about making authentic rock music. Their new EP A Different Kind is a testament to that.

Alt-rock is a huge and diverse umbrella and romantic rock n roll could mean just about anything. However, the name Social Gravy is an attention grabber. I remember going through the video store and grabbing movies with interesting titles or cover art; sometimes they were great, sometimes the cover art was the best part of the movie. Going into this EP gave me the same kind of feeling. For better or worse, I was sold on the band name. Spoiler alert: I wasn’t disappointed. Let’s get into a little more detail.

The EP

Overall, Social Gravy’s latest EP A Different Kind is a soulful musical journey. It contains four tracks and clocks in at right around fifteen minutes. The energy builds over the first two tracks and peaks in the third. The EP closes with the title track which brings the listener back down easy. Since there are only four tracks, I figured I would take time to talk about each of them individually.

Happening Now

This track is like sonic butter. It’s so smooth. The drums and bass are right up front and create a strong yet minimalist groundwork for the rest of the track. The guitar floats in and out of the verses like a breeze. It’s got just enough wah on it to sound almost psychedelic but not so much that it doesn’t fit the mellow vibe of the tune. Everyone really comes together to turn the chorus into a bonafide hook. It’s big, bold, and guaranteed to be stuck in my head for the next few days. Somewhere in there is this gorgeous guitar solo that cuts through the fog of the track like the beam from a lighthouse. I love the guitar work on this EP but it’s especially good on Happening Now.

The lyrics and vocals are equally as good. These are the kind of lyrics that I love: the kind that the listener can take time to interpret them and find meaning of their own. This is one of those that you could throw on a mellow playlist and just have on while you’re relaxing or really sit down and ponder on. The songwriting is rock solid from top to bottom. Vee’s vocals are amazing as well. His voice is sweet honey butter on this song.

Love You Better

There is a reason that Love You Better is the single on this EP. Everything I liked about the opening track dialed up a notch. It sounds bigger, it’s a little heavier, and its dripping with soul. Where the vocals in Happening Now were very sedate and smooth, Vee is singing his heart out on this one. It’s packed with great guitar work. There’s even an outro solo! I really feel like the guitar solo is becoming a lost are and it’s nice to see someone who is making radio-friendly tunes is keeping them alive.

I really dig the lyrics to I Love You Better. It’s another one of those tracks that is left up to interpretation. It could be about a relationship that’s going to hell, it could be a guy professing his love to someone, or it might be about sex. Who knows? Either way, it would fit either one of those like a glove. The line “Your scent is home” really stands out to me. It’s either incredibly sweet or really sexy. Either way, this is one hell of a track.

Anywayz

This is where the energy on this EP peaks. Everything is cranked up to 11 in this all-out rocker. To my ears, it’s an ode to those relationships that are both chaotic and fulfilling. You know what one you were in years ago that was nothing but passion every day, for better or worse? Yeah, like that. It’s a heavy, fun, and sexy tune. I would be hard pressed to pick a favorite track from A Different Kind but this one is definitely a front runner. Also, the guitar work on Anywayz is amazing.

The energy of this track matches the kind of relationship that I mentioned above. It’s all passion, fun, and lust. My only complaint here is that, much like those relationships, it was over all too quickly.

A Different Kind

The EP closes out with the exceptionally mellow title track. Where the other tracks were all very much rock tunes, this one has a much more country vibe. I’m a sucker for a steel guitar and A Different Kind has just enough steel guitar to catch my attention and hold me there. The rest of the guitar tone sounds like it’s stuck between country and surf rock. In my opinion, if your guitar tone is gonna hover somewhere, that’s a damned fine place to do it.

If I’m not mistaken, it’s Kohn doing vocals on this track. His English accent shows here and there on the verses and it sounds kind of great. That combined with the soft harmonic backup singers, the steel guitar, and the brushed drums makes this track something I would put in a heavy rotation playlist. I said I would have a hard time picking a favorite from this EP but the more I listen to it, I think this is it.

Final Thoughts

All in all, would I recommend this EP? I think I would. If hearing talented musicians make soulful music is your thing, give this one a spin. I don’t think you’ll regret it. You can listen to all of the tracks right in this review or you can find Social Gravy on Spotify. While you’re there, give some of their older tunes a spin as well. I personally recommend the straight-forward rocker Fools.