(CCM) Social Cinema are proud to announce their full-length debut, Don't Get Lost, due out on October 2nd via Midtopia. The band, with members hailing from Wichita, KS And Lincoln, NE, are also sharing the album's lead single "You Want My Love."
The song is an apt introduction to the power-pop quintet, whose sound features a wealth of simultaneously at-odds and complementary instrumentation, whether that's demonstrated by the band's hard-panned, three-pronged guitar attack of Gang Of Four-esque chimes exchanged among guitarists Griffin Bush, Mari Crisler and Reed Tiwald, or via the stop-start, drum-pad-aided grooves played by drummer Logan Bush and bassist Austin Engler.
Social Cinema didn't want to rush their debut album. Its members knew it would reveal itself in time. "It's kind of like all of our albums already exist," drummer Logan Bush says. "They're out there, and we just have to go find them."
In early 2024, the band sensed the pieces of their debut were coming together, and the studio sessions they booked that spring were meant to explore a pile of demos that had been collected in a folder shared among members, titled "album mode." But it took releasing 22 songs in their first three years to reach that point - in the form of two EP's and a compilation that grouped 10 somewhat disconnected tracks into one release, much like a hip-hop mixtape would.
Frontman Griffin Bush says many early Social Cinema songs existed primarily as material to fill setlists at their shows, which, for their part, have been the band's undeniable strength from the start. Social Cinema are a force on stage, deploying tightly wound dance rhythms in the guise of rock songs while Griffin evangelizes at center stage, arms flailing and spouting vocally like a cross between King Krule and Joey Ramone. The band's shows have won fans over with the visceral, nothing-left-on-the-table presentation of a group that has laboriously studied the makings of a great rock show, evidenced by their inclusion on NIVA's 2025 "Live List," a who's who of top emerging live acts, alongside names like Doechii, Jessica Pratt and Mannequin Pussy.
When it came time to record their debut, the band elected to work with producer Jeremy Wurst at Kansas City's B-24 Studios, scheduling several sessions throughout 2024. After each visit, they combed the results and considered how the songs could be sharpened - "to make the most interesting pop song possible in three minutes," Griffin says.
Don't Get Lost is unmistakably a pop album, but of a highly calculated strain, meant to hook you in at the surface level and designed to reward you with repeated listens. Its construction is a product of Griffin's exacting touch, not unlike those of obsessive power-pop scientists Ric Ocasek and Rivers Cuomo. You'll appreciate how effective these songs are at grabbing and keeping your attention.
Social Cinema have evolved here from their own self-prescribed characterization as a "live" band. While the live show will remain key to their identity, Don't Get Lost is a triumph that earns themselves a new label: a "complete" band. Don't Get Lost is an exhibition of the best version of Social Cinema right now. That is, until they go hunting for the next one.
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