For me the name Broken Social Scene immediately evokes images of confetti and an over-crowded stage. The Toronto based group has in its 12 years of duration been a party unit of collaboration, ever flowing with old and new characters, maxing out at a total of 19. Since its founding by Kevin Drew and Brendan Canning, the duo has marched a parade of Canadian indie talent into the project, including Leslie Feist, Emily Haines of Metric, Jason Collett, Amy Millan and Evan Cranley of Stars, and Ohad Benchetrit of Do Make Say Think. While many of these alumni since their initial involvement have gone on to lead successful solo careers, each of them have left an impression on BSS’s sound. The result of the ubiquitous flow of members under Drew and Canning’s direction has been an organic, seamless and patient progression of releases. With five years passed since their last release, a number of solo project releases, and a hefty series of tours, BSS returns with their fourth record on Drew and Jeffrey Remedios’s Arts & Crafts label, Forgiveness Rock Record. It’s tightly cohesive and features a fine production quality, thanks to recording engineer John McEntire, better known for his band Tortoise. The album was recorded in McEntire’s Soma Studio’s in Chicago.
Though Forgiveness features 14 tracks, totaling over an hour of playtime, the album flows beautifully and with surprisingly few stale moments. The album’s most memorable, power rock type songs are loaded in the front half of the record, leading with the first single, “World Sick.” The track builds with ambient waves and swells, before hitting stride with an unmistakably BSS guitar line that surfs you right into the tube of this record, building you to the lazer show of guitars in the breakdown. “Texico Bitches” hops along cheerfully with equally memorable guitar riffs and the zenith of joyous exclamations, “woo!” yelled seemingly by a team of cheerleaders. On “Forced to Love,” Kevin Drew proposes with sharp annunciation a series of ideas for us to think about before chugging and coasting along into the chorus. He holds off on getting overtly political, but if you’ve been to one of Kevin’s shows, you know where he’s going with this. Each of the leading four tracks, along with the majority of the album, feature Drew on vocals.
Enter “All to All.” Its vocals were written by Emily Haines, joined by Leslie Feist, Amy Millan and Lisa Lobsinger, who also sings on a number of tracks on the album and is now acting as the bands touring female vocalist. The vocals float airily over a climbing dance beat while the supporting instrumentation bursts with scuzz on the chorus, drawing an emotional high. The song purges, grooves, rocks, and whispers playfully with quirky harmony in its breakdown. The track pulls all of the right strings and bats clean up for the album as one of the best songs of the year to date.
Following these more memorable singles are jams readied with grooving beats laid by Justin Peroff, a few ambient numbers, and cooler rock pieces. But just when you think the B-side of the record is mellowing out, it smacks you with the victoriously towering instrumental, “Meet Me in the Basement,” full with horns and strings, like a wordless take on “Underdog.” The album never settles into a style too long, rotating through a few different tastes and experimentations that keep the album moving and engaging.
And as if 14 smacking new tracks weren’t enough, pre-order customers also received a download of Lo-Fi for the Dividing Nights EP. The recordings are the downtime musings of the band in Soma Studios, as brief instrumental soundscapes spawned much like album closer “Me & My Hand.”
BSS puts forth a solid effort with Forgiveness, which has a little something for everybody. Though the members may change, the band continue to evolve no matter what the mix, and have done a fine job of tightening its sound on this dynamic record.
- matthew hunt
