| CD REVIEW Broken Social Scene |
 |
|
Band : Broken Social Scene Toronto (Canada) based Indie Rock act BSS was originally started in 1999 as a studio project for the duo of Kevin Drew and Brendan Canning, whom released the band’s instrumental Ambient debut album Feel Good Lost (which had contrinutions from Justin Peroff, Charles Spearin, Bill Priddle, Leslie Feist, Jessica Moss, and Evan Cranley – the latter from Stars)on the Noise Factory Records imprint in 2001. (underneath text re-written from the band’s page at Wikipedia) Finding it difficult to organize entertaining shows with their material as a duo, the core members brought in a number of friends from their hometown’s Indie scene (besides the album’s contributors also Metric’s Emily Haines, plus Andrew Whiteman and Jason Collett) to give the songs a bit more flesh, also including lyrics and vocals. All of the above (plus a couple more contributors) converged to participate to the band’s second outing, 2002’s You Forget It In People, which won a Juno Award in 2003. The album was promoted with a tour that included the core members (Drew on guitar, Canning on the bass, and both contributing vocals) plus Peroff, Whiteman and Collett…plus any other of the above mentioned (including the non-mentioned guests) available to participate in any of the shows. The album’s song “Lover’s Spit” went on to be featured in a number of movies, etc (2005’s Lie With Me by director Clément Virgo, 2004’s Wicker Park by Paul McGuigan, 2004’s The Love Crimes Of Gillian Guess, in the Queer as Folk television series during 2003, and also in an episode of Canadian series Terminal City). 2003 saw the release of the B-sides & remix compilation album Bee Hives, and the version of “Lover’s Spit” found there was also featured in an episode (3rd season) of television series Nip/Tuck. Television series The L Word used “Pacific Theme” and “Looks Just Like The Sun” (also from the You Forget It In People) in its first season. “Stars And Sons” (another song from the album) was also featured in the movie The Invisible. And music from all albums from the band up to that time was used in the 2006 movie Half Nelson. In other words, the band’s music was swiftly being heard by a rather broad and relatively large audience. The self-titled third album was released in October 2005, featuring new contributions from the likes of k-os, Jason Tait (The Weakerthans), and Murray Lightburn, and the line-up itself was enhanced by Stars members Torquil Campbell and David Newfeld (also produced the album, as he’d done with You Forget It In People). At the same time a limited edirtion EP titled E.P. To Be You And Me was released. At the 2006 Juno Awards (presented by the Canadian Academy Of Recording Artists And Sciences), their album won the “Alternative Album Of The Year” award. In early Summer the band announced a temporary hiatus to follow their November tour, to allow members to work on their individual projects and bands. With the band just home from an August European tour, and on a 2-day’s notice, the band was re-assembled to play at the first North-American Virgin Festival, replacing non other that Massive Attack (had had problems getting visas to travel to the US) and playing àfter international stars The Strokes and The Raconteurs. During the one-hour show the band was joined by some of its part-time members (Leslie Feist, Amy Milan, k-os, and Emily Haines) making the show the last of the rare 15-member appearences of the band until 2009. In late 2007 came the first of a series of “Broken Social Scene presents…” albums (intended to see each member of BSS release a “solo” album with the band’s backing), with material recorded by Kevin Drew between 2004 and 2006 when the band was not on the road or not recording itself. Although cited as a solo album, Spirit If… has contributions from almost every BSS member and a sound very remeniscent of the main project. The September 2007 release was followed by the Broken Social Scene Presents Kevin Drew’s Spirit If tour later in 2007. The second album in this series came through Arts & Crafts in late July 2008, this time by Brendan Canning and sub-titled Something For All Of Us. Before that, another interesting thing happened…namely the release of This Book Is Broken (a collaboration between Arts & Crafts and Anansi Press), written by Eye Weekly editor Stuart Berman. Confessing his close personal involvement with the band, the book includes artwork, concert posters and pictures of the band, and most of the narration comes from interview material with the band and related personae. Released in May 2009, the book has since been described as not only being a “visual/oral history” of the band, but also of Toronto itself. In between the then and the now, the band did the occasional gig, the most remarkable of which was their performance on July 11, 2009, when almost every one of the past collaborators joined on the stage at their hometown’s Harbourfront Centre. The band’s introduction to the stage was done by director Bruce McDonald, whom made use of the opportunity to announce the filming of a movie titled This Movie Is Broken, which was to include concert footage as well as film material to be submitted by fans to document Toronto in Summer 2009. The new album was recorded in Chicago with John McEntire producing. Regrettably, the album was leaked onto the Internet on April 12. Later the following week, the band announced the forthcoming release of Lo-Fi Dor The Dividing Line, and additional 10-song “EP”. For those interested in getting hard copies of their music, let’s talk a bit about the music on the new album, shall we? For starters, this is music for those among us who like a calmer type of music, which is therefore not devoid of nice underlaying and subtle complexities. Vocals are soft, and varied in use. There’s songs where Banning and Drew are the only singers (and even these two use their voice in a varied way, occasionally going falsetto), there’s songs where one of the two is backed by a female singer, there’s songs where the only vocals are female (reportedly, one song has both Amy Milan, Emily Haines ànd Leslie Feist together in the same trock, a first in the band’s history). Another varied thing is the music itself. Occasionally sounding like subdued Shoegazer with the distorted guitar in the background, there’s also songs where piano and synth have the overtones. Occasionally at least passages of songs are even electronic, while other passages are essentially Ambient (in the sense that ambient sounds were incorporated into some of the instrumental parts), or get the infusion of a nice violin! Put everything together, and it becomes obvioussly clear why movie makers have been using the band’s music in their soundtracks! If that don’t quite give you a good picture, you might just as well check out the music (only 3 songs off the new album, I’m afraid – maybe there’s more at the band’s own website or even at the Arts & Crafts website – for links, check the band’s page at Wikipedia) posted at myspace.com/brokensocialscene…or go watch one of the band’s shows. They already did a short Eurotour in May, but return late June (in Belgium, you can catch ‘em at Liège’s Les Ardentes Festival on July 8, for other dates throughout Europe until July 11, check the MySpace page). Following a couple of gigs in the Far East, the band starts a US tour in September. As far as my appreciation of the album goes, I have to admit at first that it grew on me like a lover. Not the head-over-heels kinda thing, though! You know, the type where you become aware of some niceties in someone/something (in this case the new BSS album) and because of that start spending more time with the object of your affections, and slowly but deeply start loving every aspect of it! Any surprise this goes into my year-lists? 98/100 Tony. |