Product Description

Third studio album from Toronto outfit Broken Social Scene and follow-up to 2002's 'You Forgot It In People'. Their heavily orchestrated, guitar-driven sound has been likened by critics to an experimental take on the music of fellow Canadians Arcade Fire. As with the previous album, it was producedby David Newfeld at his Stars and Sons studio.

Track Listing

1. Our faces split the coast in half [vocals by Feist, featuring Murray Lightburn on guitar]
2. Ibi dreams of pavement (a better day)
3. 7/4 (shoreline) [vocals by Feist]
4. Finish your collapse and stay for breakfast
5. Major label debut
6. Fire eye’d boy
7. Windsurfing nation [vocals by Feist and k-os]
8. Swimmers [vocals by Emily Haines]
9. Hotel
10. Handjobs for the holidays
11. Superconnected
12. Bandwitch
13. Tremoloa debut
14. It’s all gonna break [vocals by Feist]

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #13069 in Music
• Released on: 2006-01-23
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
Broken Social Scene are a Canadian collective made up of members of established Toronto bands such as A Silver Mt Zion, Stars and Do Make Say Think. The crew caused a splash in 2002 with their formidable You Forgot It In People, which went on to win a Canadian JUNO. The subsequent pressure for a follow-up has been immense but they’ve managed to come up trumps with this eponymous offering.

Producer Dave Newfeld nurtures the same meticulously shambolic production style that made YFIIP such a messy joy, encouraging the band to embrace an even more sprawling and inventive aesthetic. Tracks "bleed" into one another like Rothko colours, but the sheer amount of people involved--ten key members plus several guests including Feist and rapper K-Os--lend the project a quite astonishing diversity. Despite a dense squall of sound often obscuring lyrics and sonic detail, the collective’s sub-pop chops consistently ring out in a triumphant flurry of catchy hooks, hypnotic riffs and compelling melodies. As big as the sky and as fluid as a dream, Broken Social Scene is that rare thing: an experimental album that actually rocks. --Paul Sullivan

Customer Reviews

gygiu
I assume that people were too busy listening to this collective's must more hyped not-actually-a-debut debut album to give this self-titled gem a fair listen. Or perhaps they were listening to some album called Funeral released the previous year? I don't know the reasoning, but this near-masterpiece has somehow been forgotten about, despite it being one of indie rock's greatest achievements over the past few years. Because 10 or so members wasn't nearly enough, Kevin Drew hired even more dopey Canadians with ridiculous hair to do his dirty work, and the result is one of the most explosive, gorgeous and downright sexy records my ears have ever heard. k-os's verse on 'Windsurfing Nation' is so ridiculously out-of-place, but it works! It all works! Culminating in 'It's All Gonna Break' - a kind of twee version of 'Sister Ray', but with even more sexually confused lyrics - Broken Social Scene is a truly fantastic record, and one that makes me shed a tear when I realise that England is producing nothing this exciting.

Yes, it's better than You Forgot It in People, and it's probably better than you too.

Superconnected
Broken Social Scene are a very unusual band. A huge cast of musicians participate on this record in a democratic process that leaves the producers with a lot of work to do, trying to make sense of what can often sound like two or three songs playing at the same time. The result, on some of their more conventional indie tracks, is a cross between the laconic daze of Dinosaur Jnr and the warped intensity of My Bloody Valentine. However, they also excel at jazzy post-rock and - on this record - Prince-style R&B!

Whereas the overcrowded, shape-shifting production was a principle factor of their last (great) record 'You Forgot it in People', on this record it entirely defines it. Songs and melodies slip in and out of focus, revealing little galaxies of blurred notes and voices beyond the principal 'song' structures, time-signatures trip and flip; at moments it sounds like you are stuck between stations on an analogue radio dial.

The album opens with a the jazzy, shimmering alt-rock of 'Our faces split the coast in half', with a moody Bernard Hermann-style brass section and half-submerged vocals that sound like something sampled for a DJ Shadow record. Picking up where 'Pacific Theme' left off on the last record, this is one of the best tracks for me. 'Ibi dreams of pavement (a better day)' is one of their more raucous moments while '7/4 (shoreline)' is this album's 'Almost Crimes', an anthemic, sonic crowd-pleaser with Leslie Feist at the helm.

'Finish your collapse and stay for breakfast' is electronic noodling while 'Major label debut' show their more twee indie sensibilities. 'Fire Eye'd Boy' is another one to satisfy the indie kids, a fine piece of pop-hookery, but then it gets more interesting. 'Windsurfing Nation' is an unusual rock / r'n'b hybrid centring around the repeated mantra 'All we want is freedom' and even includes a short rap at the end, to great effect. 'Hotel' is off-kilter downbeat r'n'b, a kind of tripped-out 'Lover's Rock' and the album's most singular moment. There are other moments of merit to mention, but some editing would not have hurt - in particular the inconsequentially long closer 'Its All Gonna Break'.
The bonus EP from the Limited Edition isn't much cop either, sounding more like outtakes than a record in its own right, and isn't worth spending any extra cash on.

Good but noisy!
Great songs but my only criticism is that it's sometimes difficult to pick out the great tunes through the noise. There's a lot going on on this album almost constantly. Sometimes that's great but sometimes it just gets too much and everything gets lost in the cacophony. Still gets 4 stars though.