first listen: broken social scene

Broken Social Scene
Forgiveness Rock Record
[Arts & Crafts]
Release Date: 4 May 2010

A few years back, when the ever-growing Broken Social Scene reached an all-time high of 19 members, there were so many Canadian rock stars performing with the Toronto-based indie-rock collective, it was difficult to remember which ones, exactly, were in the band. Singer-songwriters Kevin Drew and Brendan Canning? Check, and check. Feist? Emily Haines from Metric? Amy Milan from Stars? Yes, yes, and yes. Neil Young? The dudes from Rush? The National Orchestra of Canada? Probably not, but hey, with such an unruly lineup, you’d never know.

So it’s refreshing that, on their fourth full-length, they’ve scaled back to just seven core members – including Drew and Canning – and, as a result, the music’s regained some room to breathe. BSS still exhibit a flair for high-drama builds, from tiny upright-bass tremors to a full thunderstorm of guitar feedback and crackling electronics, but now, instead of glossing everything over with layered synths, they’ve heightened the texture of every last plucked string.

Part of the credit goes to producer John McEntire (Tortoise, the Sea and the Cake), a guy who knows the power of playfully jazzy arrangements. Where Broken Social Scene’s early albums felt like stellar mixtapes, careening between airy pop ballads and gritty rock anthems,Forgiveness is their first coherent rock record. There are still some great cameos: Milan, Feist and Haines all sing together for the first time on “Sentimental X’s,” a softly grooving highlight. But Broken Social Scene don’t sound like a collective anymore: they sound like a band.

— Melissa Maerz