![]() The record is a reaction to tribulations and tensions both personal and global. But even then, it picks itself up again.īrendan Canning (left), Kevin Drew and Charles Spearin at Revolution Recording. ![]() Only in the near-final moments does the album break down, as if it can’t bear its own heft. Skyline is dreamy, luminescent and meditative but also energized. Defiant, shoot-for-the-rafters songs like Halfway Home are sharp and explosive. Like past albums, it’s almost overwhelmingly lush, though the band also sounds more focused. Drew gets to the point during the climax of Mouth Guards Of The Apocalypse, wailing, “I’m trying for the living, and I’m staying so I can leave.” It does this through multiple lenses: Emily Haines on the electrifying Protest Song, Leslie Feist on the transcendent title track, Ariel Engle on the gentle perseverance anthem Gonna Get Better. It does that beautiful thing Broken Social Scene do better than anyone else: spills its blood and guts and drills into you the idea that no matter what you’re going through, you’re gonna get through it, and we’re all gonna do it together. “And you can also leave,” Canning laughs, finishing off the Hotel California reference.ĭespite the wealth of love on offer, Hug Of Thunder is a tense record. Multi-instrumentalist Charles Spearin elaborates: “You can check out any time you like….” “You just don’t show up, and come back another time,” Drew explains. When John Crossingham tried to years ago, he got confused reactions. After all, no one really ever quits Broken Social Scene. A whopping 17 players perform on Hug Of Thunder. There are two different versions of UB40 that go out and tour,” Canning replies. ![]() ![]() “Otherwise there’d be the classic, you know…. “We were never really broken,” de facto bandleader Kevin Drew says. On their fifth album, Hug Of Thunder (Arts & Crafts), out July 7, they sound less broken than ever. But at this point, their relationships are well established and, as co-founder Brendan Canning points out upstairs at the Rivoli, “There’s just so much water under the bridge.” Like most large and enduring collectives, the Toronto band has seen a lot of changes, members coming and going and sometimes returning again. Metric, Feist, Stars, Do Make Say Think, Land of Talk, Apostle of Hustle: they’re all in the BSS solar system. It’s been almost 15 years since You Forgot It In People established Broken Social Scene as a glittering star around which an endless number of bands and solo careers orbit, no matter how far they’ve lit out alone. BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE and ARCADE FIRE play the Air Canada Centre (40 Bay), November 3 and 4, doors 6:30 pm. ![]()
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