Why Fix It If It Isn't Broken?
Broken Social Scene returns with a full line-up, a subdued sound, and a downright laudable victory lap.
Broken Social Scene
Forgiveness Rock Record
Released on May 04, 2010
How do you write about Broken
Social Scene’s latest effort, Forgiveness Rock Record?
Do you make an extended analogy about the utterly large circumference
of the sound being akin to not only the amount of band members but also
their inevitably pseudo-narcissistic lyrics that are 100% unearthly and full of wider-then-thou statements (for reference, see lead track, “World Sick:” “I get
world sick/Every time I take a stand.”) Or do you tell a story
about how you never really got over “Anthems for a Seventeen Year-Old
Girl” when you first heard it in high school and somehow this new
album still delivers? Maybe you go on a tangent about how moderately
disappointing the disconnected two Broken Social Scene Presents… albums were and how refreshing it is to hear the band writing together,
tight - downright taut - with the vigor that usually escapes thirty-somethings.
Maybe you do all three. Forgiveness Rock Record is a whole five years in the making, essentially,
with the explosive force that was their self-titled album seething away
from the foreground this time around. Recorded and mastered both
above The Rainbo Room in Chicago (it escapes me how they dealt with that crowd every night) and in their home, Toronto, old producer
Dave Newfeld stepped down to make way for John McEntire. The result:
The amps fail to burst on this effort, leaving way for the melodies
to shine through. As much as I still love “It’s All Gonna
Break,” this holding back is welcomed. When you arrive at tracks
like “Texico Bitches” with its plunking poppiness backed up by every
member I can think of or “Sentimental X’s” with Emily Haines,
Amy Milan, and Leslie Feist all singing together for the first time
on record, the lack of explosion is appreciated.
Yes, Broken Social Scene has
gone the way that we all wanted them to go. They’ve forged ahead
and realized that you don’t always have to be loud; that they
are good song writers with an ear for what their audience will want
as we all grow up together. Listen to “Forced to Love”
if you don’t believe it. It’s got all the potential of any
other former BSS track for exploding into overdrive, but holds back
and allows the guitar solos that were always buried in the fuzz to shine
out. Oh, that’s not enough? Kevin Drew learned how to
almost harmonize somewhere along the way, too. Not too shabby.
I could pontificate on high about BSS and this album for any amount of time. The fact is: this is a great album. There is a slip-up or two. “Me & My Hand” doesn’t add much and “Highway Slipper Jam” contains a scat intro that feels more like it belongs on a later reggae/Clash record than Canadian Indie-pop. Are these faults? Kind of. As a whole, though, it’s rare that you find a band that can put together a group of great songs for a single release. Rarer still that they can arrange the songs and make almost all the right choices for an album that creates an atmosphere that is somehow greater than the sum of its parts. Go out and buy the record. Or at least listen to it. BSS isn’t for everyone, they never have been. But you’ll admit that it’s good.
High Point
"Sentimenal X's." Because I'm a sucker for female singers. And this one is. Wow.
Low Point
"Me & My Hand" just feels like wasted space. And on a record that is already more than 64 minutes long, maybe it's worth skipping.
Posted by Mark Steffen on May 04, 2010 @ 6:30 am