Over the last 20 years, Broken Social Scene have proven themselves the rare act to fuse those opposite poles in a manner that’s emotionally nourishing even at their most obtuse. Even by its own hazy standards, post-rock has taken on an unusually wide range of forms, from the jazzy and quixotic to pure, uncut, ascendant drama. After a seven-year hiatus (there are few things more explicitly post-rock than taking forever between albums), Broken Social Scene returned with Hug of Thunder, their shortest record to date, which represented a full realization of the warm-embrace rock music they’ve leaned toward since the days when bandleader Kevin Drew turned live renditions of “It’s All Gonna Break” into a call-and-response anthem.īut amid the empathy and urgency streaked across Hug of Thunder was a band still unafraid to doodle moodily in the margins, from the instrumental ditherings in the midsection of “Victim Lover” to the sax-led breakdown in “Stay Happy,” the latter which practically and lovingly ripped from the playbook of BSS-adjacent post-rock act Do Make Say Think. Imagine being a young lad lost at the fair.Even as the band’s songwriting has taken on a more explicitly uplifting and streamlined form, they’ve never quite forgotten where they came from 2010’s lovely, shapeshifting Forgiveness Rock Record was produced by John McEntire of post-rock godheads Tortoise and featured the Sea and Cake’s Sam Prekop on a song that practically mirrored the tropical, wafting dreaminess of his main act. Oh, how fun the ferris wheel looks in your young eyes. How exciting the squirt-the-water-in-the-balloon's-mouth game appears to be. How dangerously intriguing the travelling freakshow appeals to you. You're lost, but you don't care because you're having oh so much fun and your chains are undone by your parents who only encourage rides such as the marry-go-round and sitting on the bench. You're feel good lost.īroken Social Scene have defied they're spotlight in the mainstream, but for a good cost - they get to make the music that they love the most. In they're five year recording career, there's barely been a mention of them on the radio, there haven't been memorobilia, there haven't been teenage fans waving "I Love You!" signs at they're concerts. The recent win of the Best Alternative Album juno might shove them into the mainstream a little bit more, but rest assured this band isn't about to change. This is probably 1/9 of Broken Social Scene. Only two full time members appear on this record. Founders Brenden Canning and Kevin Drew play all the instruments, with the exception of a few guest performances. This is an instrumental album, and it is completely different than they're other albums. A sort of Sigur Ros influenced album, if you will. Nevertheless, this album is completely breathtaking. The whole album features a sort of concept: to make white noise listenable. Let's say this the album features an assorted array of sounds carefully crafted into beautiful, melancolie, mournful and solemn pieces of beautiful music. That's where the Sigur Ros comparison comes in. But Broken Social Scene add a dazzling array of instruments, which make sometimes brief but always rewarding appearances. The rock instruments (ie Bass, Guitar, Drums) only compliment the hum of the background noise, and the band may even add a whispering vocal performance to keep things interesting. The best part of these kinds of songs is the way that BSS crafts them to be different, odd and sort of Radiohead Amnesiac era music that hums, glistens and stuns, but also adds an indie feel - the very fact that these guys add guitar, bass and drums as background noise makes this album even more appealing, but in the meantime it may turn some listeners off.Īnother side of the album is the current sound of Broken Social Scene - the indie anthems that boast a dozen instruments and usually boast a fascinating, complex rhythm to them that make them even more irrestable. Songs like the incredible, eight and a half minute Last Place make for an enjoyable listen on the sole fact that they have as much brilliance, subtlety, complexity and variety in them that you can't help but tap you're foot, close you're eyes and forget about the problems.
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