Historically, there are some things that just seem to go together: peanut butter and jelly, death and taxes, a boy and his dog, a boy and his computerized digital recording interface? Cory Cline, alias The Social Season, has something to be proud of. It appears that this record, Rebuilding Year, is only one of his creative endeavors. He built a computer, which he later used to record an album. The result is a little more than your average locked-in-a-bedroom-for-hours homebrew recording.

It’s nice to hear someone who knows how to write a love song. It seems like a dying art.

What really sets the Social Season apart is the layering of lush synth tones under ethereal vocal arrangements. Regrettably, the harshness of digital recording technique and lackluster drum programming stopped me from having the ultimate slow-jam experience I wanted from this record. All the ingredients were there, but none of the flavor. Well, there was some. What is left after you strip away the “experimental /indie” Myspace buzzwords and posturing is a guy who makes music because he loves it. It shows.

Here is the first edition of my advice to the world that no one asked for: you don’t have to be indie or experimental to be relevant.

Just write a good pop song. You don’t have to be Brian Eno. You can be R. Kelly. Or you can be The Social Season, and that’s OK too.