Categories : Featured Review, Music Reviews, Rock + Pop.
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Rating: 4/5 Released: October 11, 2005 Reviewer: David Coats |
In 2003, Toronto’s Broken Social Scene, a collective of Canadian alternative musicians, released You Forgot It In People, considered one of the most groundbreaking Canadian records in years. Now up to an ever-increasing 17 members, BSS have released their self-titled follow up, which proves that the band’s acclaim and influence are well-deserved.
While the record opens with the pleasantly organic and understated instrumental Our Faces Split The Coast In Half, the record actually proves to be more intense than You Forgot It In People, with increased tempos, rhythmic contrasts, and more melodic hooks, while not sacrificing the band’s artistic experimentation. Drummer Justin Peroff, in particular, impresses given a greater role. BSS also continue their habit of incorporating unexpected, subtle layers of instrumentation, perhaps best evidenced here by the celebratory brass riff in Ibi Dreams Of Pavement. Vocalists Amy Milan (Stars), Emily Haines (Metric), and Leslie Feist (Feist) deliver predictably solid performances, also. The record’s slower moments are where things start to drag a little, though, such as the abstract instrumental Finish Your Collapse, and the drifting Major Label Debut. Also occasionally problematic is BSS’s uncomfortable reliance on electronic instrumentation (Hotel). The record’s highlights are the all at once avant-garde and retro pop of 7/4 shoreline, the guest appearance of Canadian rap star K-os, and the epically explosive closer It’s All Gonna Break (described in the liner notes as “try to make it sound like Bob Seger on acidâ€).
The record comes with a limited edition EP, which is worth getting your hands on for the rock’n’roll version of Major Label Debut and the intriguingly minimalist No Smiling Darkness/Snake Charmers Association. While not as significant a step forward as You Forgot It In People, the Canadian alternative scene will be held to a high standard as long as BSS continue to challenge and defy convention.
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