Broken Social Scene have got their act together for a new album – no mean feat when your line-up stretches to double figures
THE GANG’S all here again. The return of Toronto’s Broken Social Scene, a band with as many cast members and dramatic storylines as your favourite soap opera, is a reason to be cheerful. After four and a half years away, a period which all the same produced a couple of decent solo albums, BSS have rediscovered their collective momentum.
Like their previous three albums, new release Forgiveness Rock Recordis full of scruffy grandeur and ramshackle elegance, a record where their slow-burning songs and that idiosyncratic Canuck take on big music produce a mighty racket.
It also sounds like the work of a band firmly and finally at ease in their own skins. BSS co-founder Brendan Canning credits a move to Chicago and a new producer for the sense of calm that went hand in hand with the making of this album.
“The premise behind the idea of transplanting ourselves to Chicago was to get away from our familiar surroundings so we were all on the same page,” he says. “We had a blast in Chicago. We rented houses and bikes, we were living together as a band, we were having meals together, we were working in the studio together.
“It meant that the task at hand was straightforward – wake up, feed yourself, cycle to the studio, create a magical record. There were no distractions like we’d have had to deal with in Toronto. We got a fresh impetus about where we were trying to get as a band.”
Toronto, though, remains their base. The band were one of the chief beneficiaries of indie rock’s lengthy recent love affair with Canadian music. Canning says the city is still as musically turned on as before. “It’s still happening, there’s a lot of great music here. Toronto has always been a great music town and all that attention a few years ago just underlined that a little more.”
The temporary move to Chicago was because it is where their producer, Tortoise’s John McEntire, is based. “To get someone like John was real important because he brought us out of our element. There’s always going to be a lot of captains in this band because everyone is capable of making decisions and records on their own.
“The fact is it still sounds like a Broken Social Scene record, but with John McEntire at the helm. It was good to have someone who didn’t know us and our tricks very well to come in and wade through the water. I think we needed that outside voice this time around.
“John did a real good job getting what we wanted to achieve out of us. You go into a marriage like this, without knowing what to expect. We were a fan of his band so at least we knew we’d be on the same musical level.”
Canning also believes that it helps their cause that there is now a relatively settled line-up. Seeing as BSS have boasted up to 19 members since Canning and Kevin Drew formed the group in 1999 – many of whom have also had solo careers and side-projects of one kind or another (see panel below) – such stability means it’s easier to get a consensus about future plans.
“It’s not nearly as chaotic as it was a few years ago because the line-up isn’t fluctuating any more. For so many years, the line-up would change every year or so and that made things very hard and made it more difficult for us to grow as an unit because you were always bringing some new member up to speed. Now, we’re all at the same stage as regards what we’re trying to do with the album and live show. We’re all in for it for the same reasons.”
SUCH UNITY MEANS all talk of solo records has been put to one side for now. Canning released the well-received Something For All Of Us in 2008, though he never saw it as the beginning of a brand new separate venture.
“It was a really good experience for me because I got to be lead vocalist on all the tracks and not have to pass on the melodies to someone else,” he says. “And I think it was good to have a little time apart from the others. I don’t always want to hear what the other people in the band make of my piece of music and I guess the opposite is also true.
“But I had no ambition to go out and form a new band that wasn’t Broken Social Scene. So while I’ve got a bunch of other tunes kicking around that aren’t Broken Social Scene songs, for now, it’s Broken Social Scene time. There’ll be time for me to do other stuff in the future.”
Forgiveness Rock Recordis out now. Broken Social Scene play the Oxegen festival in July
Broken Social Scenesters
FEISTCanadian singer-songwriter Leslie Feist attracted attention as a member of Broken Social Scene before forging a successful solo career with albums such as The Reminder.
METRICEmily Haines and James Shaw have worked with BSS at numerous stages, as well as concentrating on Metric's bespoke punky electropop.
STARSAll members of Stars have done time with BSS in-between gaining an audience for their own bittersweet, orchestral indie-pop.
