Broken Social Scene presents Kevin Drew
Spirit If…
(Arts & crafts)
Enter Broken Social Scene, the brand. With Spirit If…, Arts & Crafts finally acknowledges what we’ve all known for the past five years—there’s a certain cache that comes with the Broken Social Scene name. The “presents” tag would come off as an opportunistic cash grab if Drew, along with Brendan Canning, hadn’t started the whole damn thing. Spirit If… reveals just what a lynchpin Drew is to the collective. Despite the revolving door of collaborators, Drew’s songs are at the heart of BSS’s records. Of course, that’s not stopping him from bringing along alum like Feist, Emily Haines and Amy Millan as well as new contributors J Mascis, Scott Kannberg and Tom Cochrane (?). What’s more, the record easily stands next to BSS’s high watermarks. Opener “Farewell to the Pressure Kids” manages to shift from sonic bombast to experimental soundscape to straight-up indie rock, all in the span of six minutes. Meanwhile, the first single, “Backed Out On the…” featuring J Mascis, is the closest to modern rock any BSS affiliate has ever come (albeit with an art rock bent). Brendan Canning is slated to release his own record next year, and, if that release is anywhere near the quality of Kevin Drew’s, the wait for the next Broken Social Scene album will be just a little less painful (but just a little).
Ian Gormely
categories: Canadian artist
This article appears in Dec 6-12, 2007.