In 2003, the Toronto-based music collective Broken Social Scene made their American debut with the release of their landmark album, You Forgot It In People. That same year, Broken Social Scene were awarded the Juno Award (the Canadian equivalent of a Grammy) for Best Alternative Album and the band went on to tour relentlessly, headlining sold out shows across North America, accepting invitations to festivals such as Coachella, Austin City Limits Festival, Intonation and were handpicked by the Pixies and Dinosaur Jr. to open their respective tours. Their reputation as a stellar live band precedes them. Meanwhile You Forgot It In People has sold over 75,000 copies in the U.S. alone.
To understand Broken Social Scene is to understand the relationship of their collective. At its epicentre is Arts & Crafts, the label launched by BSS's Kevin Drew with friends/music biz vets Jeffrey Remedios and Daniel Culter to release You Forgot It In People. Their mission statement is simple: "Arts & Crafts is a record label, artist management, sign house, distribution and production company... dedicated to the development and proliferation of beauty and greatness in all disciplines of the arts." They are friends, they are lovers, they are a family. And like all families the relationship is volatile. It is this dynamic that feeds the creative atmosphere that makes BSS so exciting. They constantly inspire and challenge one another.
Since the release of You Forgot It In People, the individual projects from Broken Social Scene members have taken off as well. Possibly the biggest success is Feist (Leslie Feist) whose solo release Let It Die was awarded 2005 Juno Awards for both Best New Artist and Best Alternative Album. She has appeared on the Late Show With Conan O'Brien and in numerous magazines (from Vanity Fair to Rolling Stone) while her single, "Mushaboom," is receiving national radio airplay. The Montreal outfit Stars' (Amy Millan, Evan Cranley, Torquil Campbell are BSS members) album Set Yourself On Fire has seen a great deal of success in critical circles as well as in sales in the U.S. Meanwhile, Metric (Emily Haines & James Shaw), Apostle of Hustle (Andrew Whiteman) and Jason Collett have also received much praise for their respective releases. But it is when all of these diverse elements come together that the most attention is paid... and the most scrutiny. And it will be no greater than with the delivery of Broken Social Scene's third, self-titled, full-length album. MTV News reporter Rod Perez gave a dead on description of the new material: "It's definitely a complicated, complex, bloody passionate and paradoxical record that chews off its leg as much as it makes love to itself."
Anyone who has caught a Broken Social Scene live show over the past year will most likely be familiar with several of the album's new tracks, though all have undergone radical re-composition in the studio at the hands of producer Dave Newfeld. "7/4 (Shoreline)" is a cool uptempo duet between Kevin Drew and Feist calling to mind Fleetwood Mac at its most vibrant. Written on the road, "Major Label Debut" was created to stir the audience, but on record has a relaxed laid-back vibe. "Superconnected" is quite simply pure energy, sounding as if it's going to be the last song your speakers will contain. The record concludes with triumphant "It's All Gonna Break." It is the perfect, glorious finale to this record.
