Dave's Broken Social Scene Post

I had grand ideas for this review but it seems the album didn't inspire me as much as thought it would. That's not saying it's a bad album by any means, this is maybe the most I've enjoyed BSS in ages. (read that however you want). It’s just that well, it didn’t move me the way I expected it to. It entertained me. It provided and escape for me. It made me tap my toes and sing along with it. Everything I want from a record, but it didn’t completely inspire me.

Forgiveness Rock Record opens with a stunning track: World Sick, and is filled with gems like Texico Bitches, Sentimental X's and Sweetest Kill – when it rocks it really rocks. But also it feels like it takes time to meander along with itself on tracks Highway Slipper Jam, Meet Me In the Basement, and Me and My Hand.

I can't really blame the BSS gang for posturing either. After success as a rotating all-star band, the solo stuff that is coming out of BSS Camp is some of the best music this country has seen in the last two years. So if they feel the need to strut like a peacock a bit. Go ahead.

Forgiveness Rock Record hits it’s stride perfectly when it finds that magical musical place where the spacey synth comes together with heavy beat and you can feel like influences are swirling around each other to create a perfect storm of what everyone loves about BSS. They top it off with a sing-a-long type chorus and bridge – just add a crowd and stir. It’s really a well-produced album more than anything – with a perfect mix of sounds colliding and not too much of anything, or too little of something.

I feel Broken Social Scene has earned the respect not to be compared to other bands – and besides, other bands get compared to them all the time now, so this record sounds like BSS through and through. As for being on the shortlist for 2010 Polaris Prize, I suspect it’s a wink to their past successes and the nod to the distance that will come before we see another album from this crew.

DAVE’S KEY TRACKS: ‘Sentimental X’s’; ‘Sweetest Kill’; ‘Texico Bitches’; ‘Art House Director’.