Broken Social Scene, “Broken Social Scene”
Dan DaranciangBroken Social Scene
“Broken Social Scene”
Grade: 4 stars (out of 5)
For fans of: The Arcade Fire, TV on the Radio, Sonic Youth
Bottom Line: These 17 Canadians have done it again, in a new way.
Songs to Download: “It’s All Gonna Break,” “Ibi Dreams of Pavement (A Better Day),” “Major Label Debut,” “Swimmers”
With its follow-up release to 2002’s highly acclaimed “You Forgot It in People,” the seventeen-person collective that is Broken Social Scene had significant expectations to endure and to accomplish in creating a new album. Although the recently released self-titled album does not quite reach the heights of its predecessor, the slightly different approach to its creation still churns out admirable music. Instead of creating differently styled tracks that stand out on their own, Broken Social Scene’s new album establishes a particular mood that persists through all the tracks-think a Sigur R¢s album with a more Canadian than Icelandic indie style.
The instrumentation of “Broken Social Scene” feels spacious, with whispering vocals, steady percussive beats, and the frequent lingering of a horn section. Creating a spacious feel with the multi-layered arrangement of the songs is a notable achievement, and the purposefully lowered vocals help this effort. The track “Major Label Debut” demonstrates this echoed feel of space, with Kevin Drew’s vocals floating over layers of instrumentation.
The overall pace of the new album is faster than the previous effort, and this makes each song bleed into the next, adding to the more cohesive effect of the album. Tracks like “Fire Eye’d Boy” and “Superconnected” speed through with short bursting vocals and quick beats. However, the quickened pace of the album does sometimes make the songs feel rushed and unfocused, making certain tracks more easy to forget.
The highlight song of the album is its booming conclusion of a ten-minute song, “It’s All Gonna Break.” What makes this song stand out is its more prominent featuring of Drew’s vocals and great use of the horn section, inciting more of the feel in the band’s previous album. Other standout tracks are “Swimmers” and “Ibi Dreams of Pavement (A Better Day).” “Swimmers” features Emily Haines’ wispy vocals over horns, quick melodic bass, drum beats and the reverb of guitar and synths. “Ibi Dreams.” again gives Kevin Drew a chance to scream out vocals in greater prominence over a slower paced and more anthemic song.
Broken Social scene has created an album that demonstrates the value of the acclaim they have received recently. The only thing wrong with this album is its lack of more standout tracks, not to say there aren’t a significant amount of them. It’s just hard to follow an album like “You Forgot It in People” where every track seems to stand out.
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