Album Review: Ordinary Life by We Are The Union (by Brett Coomer)

We Are The Union released Self Care in 2018 and it turned out to be one of my favourite albums of that year. It felt like a new era for the band was being ushered in with Jer Hunter, of Skatune Network fame, joining the lineup and the band’s sound shifting away from the pop-punk sound of previous releases and embracing their ska side more. Even though I described them as fun, the songs on Self Care felt a bit darker and focused on more serious subject matter like anxiety, depression and despondency at the state of the world. For me, it was a perfect album for the time and I’ve regretted missing out on the vinyl of Self Care ever since.

Fast forward to 2021, We Are The Union are back with Ordinary Life and it’s one of my favourite albums of the year once again. Ordinary Life feels like a natural step forward for We Are The Union, diversifying their sound further but without straying too far away from the realm of third-wave ska and punk that has kept fans happy for years.

For those who are unfamiliar with We Are The Union or who have not kept up with the news within the punk scene, just a few weeks before the release of this album lead singer Reade Walcott publicly came out as a trans woman and it is pretty clear that Ordinary Life serves as an exploration and introspective look at Reade’s journey and reconciliation with her identity.

The struggle with transformation and acceptance is a fairly consistent theme and songs like ‘Morbid Obsessions’, ‘Broken Brain’ and ‘Big River’ carry a message that expresses the difficulty of change and the restless thoughts that accompany it. Even songs that focus on other topics, such as the breakdown of a relationship in the guitar driven ‘Short Circuit’ and ‘Everything Alone’, or substance abuse in ‘Wasted’, are underpinned by themes of grappling with acceptance and feeling isolated in the wake of transformational life choices.

The two most recent singles are great choices and show off the band’s pop-sensibilities but with a good dose of upstrokes and horns to make them skankable in all but the “punkest” of crowds. ‘Make It Easy’ tells the classic story of the awkward pursuit of new love and ‘Boys Will Be Girls’ doesn’t hold back with a clear message against the “tiny brains” and “ugly outlook” of prejudiced people. The latter has an especially catchy melody and chorus that does its best to make you want to dance and sing along and is one of the best songs on Ordinary Life.

Sonically the album is full of catchy choruses, big horn sections and great melodies. Songs like ‘Pasadena’, ‘Morbid Obsessions’ and ‘Ordinary Life’ would settle nicely in a setlist featuring favourites like ‘MTV Is Over If You Want It’ and ‘I Am Like John Cusack’, and I can easily imagine them being sung back at the band in a venue full of fans (post-COVID dreams are real).

The last song, ‘December’, feels like a self-addressed letter or diary entry from Reade saying goodbye to her old self with lyrics like “you’ll be dead in December, there can’t be two of us forever”, and not only accepting but embracing herself as “anything but ordinary”. It is a perfect way to complete the album.

Rather than thinking of Ordinary Life and the subject matter conveyed through the songs as depressing or dark, I find that through listening to the album I’m able to find joy in the sense of freedom that comes with self-acceptance and the celebration of living life as your true self. Ordinary Life takes the pop-punk-ska formula we’ve all come to enjoy from the band, further reinforced by great horns, and adds some elements of power-pop to create a memorable album with some catchy choruses that will get stuck in your head for days. For me, this is the best version of We Are The Union we’ve heard up until now and I can’t wait to hear and see what comes next.

Stream and download Ordinary Life on Bandcamp here.

Like We Are The Union on Facebook here.

This review was written by Brett Coomer.