“By my calculations I’d say I’ve probably seen Social Junk around sixty times, give or take. The first time was in the summer of 2005. The guitarist for my band had stumbled upon their Myspace page and invited them to come to Nashville and play a show with us. They sounded good that night, if not a little unfocused, flowing jerkily through several hypnotizing movements, but without much structure. Despite the odd off transition and the ideas not having been entirely fleshed out, the show was great and most of the elements of what was to come were already present: well harnessed electronic buzzes and whirrs, jagged intrusive sound samples, intense live percussion, sparse but effective use of traditional instruments, and the often ominous, but sometimes beautiful, vocals of Heather Young and Noah Anthony. That show would be the start of a long relationship between our bands that would eventually culminate in going on a five week nationwide tour together; but that night, I was just happy to see a new weird band. I got a handful of CD-Rs from Noah that night that played out much like the show had: a lot of really neat sounding experiments and well executed ideas but without much tying it all together. I continued to see the band perform and evolve over the next two years, refining their ideas and getting tighter and more confident; during this time they recorded prolifically and would unleash a deluge of fantastic releases starting at the end of 2006 and stretching into 2008. The first in this wave that really raised my eyebrows was the Fat Honey cassette on Isle of Man; gone were the meandering drones, brittle faux-industrial crunch, and snapshot sound collages of past releases, replaced by something far more focused and listenable which still utilized the same approach and instrumentation as before. It was clear the tide was turning. But even after Fat Honey I was still not prepared for the statement of arrival that was Offering.

Offering was the first truly great Social Junk release. I wouldn’t argue that it is their best (that would be Dirty Cloud) or even their second best (Born Into It gets that honor) but it is most definitely the one that codified the style and set the vibe for what the band sounded like at their peak. Opening track Fancy Woman gives you a perfect example of what that vibe is: kicking off with closely controlled electric crackle, eerie digital feedback, and wailing synths, it’s clear that the ride we’re about to take is gonna get dark; the song shifts gears about halfway through moving into swampy territory as toads croak, maracas shake, and a solitary guitar sets an uncertain mood. The second track, Stoner Car, brings forth the nightmare vision of a car interior filled with so much pot smoke it’s literally suffocating; meanwhile, a trumpet builds, before a single repeating note echoes, interrupted only occasionally by what sound like atonal hand bells and the chanting of some cryptic mantra. City’s on Fire is probably the most unsettling song on the record, but also the most nuanced; while certainly none of this music is casual listening, this song will paralyze you if you give it the attention it deserves. And if City’s on Fire is paralyzing, the fourth song on the record, Your Mind, is positively smothering; while none of the songs really have much tension release, this one just doesn’t quit attacking: your psyche is fucked. Wedlock mellows things down a lot as Young displays her considerable vocal talents on a short, sparse, somber ballad about lost love. Finally, rounding out the record is Big Twins. This one seems somewhat unassuming at first: a simple instrumental with a basic guitar chord progression and a synth humming ominously somewhere in the background. But it also serves as the sort of clean up for the chaos that has been wrought for the last half hour: the disaster has ripped your town apart, now it’s dissipating just as quickly as it materialized and you’re just left standing confused in the rubble. It’s a heavy listen.

Now that Social Junk is finally re-releasing their music, I really hope that people who love it as much as I do will find it. While they will probably remain woefully obscure, I can say without doubt that they were one of the best and most consistent live bands I’ve ever seen; as my own band crumbled in slow motion while touring with them in 2008, getting to see them perform every night made it worth it. So when you’re done with Offering, go check out more of their stuff. There’s a lot of it, and most of it is great. Just don’t expect to get off easy.”
-Michael O’Flinn, June 2020