Many bands have a hard enough time staying relevant and on top of their game, even with only 3 or 4 or 5 members. The fact that Broken Social Scene is a Canadian musician collective that can sometimes swell up to over 13 members in the studio and on stage, makes it all the more incredible that an album like You Forgot It In People is not only accomplished and enjoyable, but also completely stunning from start to finish. No filler.
In case you're not yet caught up on Broken Social Scene, the band itself includes members from a litany of Canadian bands. Leslie Feist, Emily Haines, Brendan Canning, Kevin Drew, Amy Millan, and the list goes on. Members of Metric, Stars, Arcade Fire, Apostle of Hustle, and occasional guest appearances from any number of local artists are common both on record and on tour. As you may have inferred, their sound is big and the many different voices and ideas coalesce into an eclectic mix of indie rock goodness that has not been better represented on record than on their 2002 offering, You Forgot It In People.
Where to start then? This has been a record that has stayed with me since my early highschool days, and for good reason. Not only is the music evolved and ever-changing, pulsing with a creative disjointedness that is actually quite welcome in this context, but the songs are really all winners. Somehow, with all the disparate ideas fighting for disc space, there is balance found in these 13 wonderfully sequenced tracks. Each and every song does stand on it's own, but when put together in this particular order, it's incredibly easy to put this album on and get lost in it's entirety. Broken Social Scene manage not only to create songs that are catchy and bold, but also songs that dig deep. The music may be grand in presentation, but immediate and heartfelt in practice. Nothing here will alienate anyone who's ever wished for the marriage of great musicianship and great songwriting.
The album includes some completely instrumental tracks, and even those hit hard and hit deep. The music itself isn't anything you haven't heard before, but the presentation of it is completely unique. There's just something about hearing the sound these collective artists make together that completely takes you away-- it's almost like being in on something nobody else knows. You'll smile and pump your fist when Fesit and Kevin Drew belt out inter-weaving vocal lines during "Almost Crimes". You'll sit back and remember how painful it is to watch the one you loved turn into someone you hardly recognize, as Emily Haines pines an otherworldy vocal during the beautifully subdued "Anthems For A Seventeen Year-Old Girl". You'll want to join up and fight the cause as "Cause=Time" jams forth with an insistent drum beat and a rousing vocal performance from Brendan Canning, as the guitar chords seem to glide back and forth in unison with the bouncing bassline. You'll lull yourself to sleep with the cryptic but gorgeous "I'm Still Your Fag", which pairs a hushed vocal line from Drew with a beautiful plucked guitar line. And there's so many other great tracks surrounding them.
The hardest thing to do is to put this album into words. There's no way to really explain what it's like to hear it and connect. It may not be on the first listen, or even your fourth, but in giving this album a bit of time to sink in, you won't be disappointed. In fact, you're apt to wonder what you ever did without it, if simply because there's a song to suit any mood or feeling you may encounter somewhere within these 13 tracks. Just have a listen, and let yourself go. Instant fan for life, I promise.
Stars and Sons (Track 3)
03 Stars and Sons by timpozzi
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