The EP closes with ‘Feel Good Lost Reprise’, an instrumental full of woozy electronic keyboards rather similar to those with which it opened.As much a creative collective as an indie rock band, Broken Social Scene is a Toronto-based ensemble whose flexible lineup has included some of the best and best-known musicians from the city's left-of-center music community. Major Label Debut (Fast) is a version of track 5 on the LP Broken Social Scene. The next two tracks subside into dreamy electronica only to wake somewhat bleary-eyed with ‘All My Friends’, a fairly standard emo-track. This is very much a song on the offensive, and thus Metric’s ‘Succexy’ comes to mind, but so does Stars’ ‘Celebration Guns’, which is in comparison very contemplative. America’ evolves in a way that is surprising. Perhaps deemed too risky for the album itself this six-minute-long anti-war epic, ‘Canada vs. The abstract theme seems set to continue with the happy/harmless start of the next track, but during the first minute the mood changes entirely. The bonus EP ‘To Be You and Me’ alluded to above, which is mostly much more biased towards electronica than the album it accompanies, starts with ‘Her Disappearing Theme’ on which the only vocals are distorted whispers. It does often have a fairly clear political edge – that is predominantly anti-war, anti-Bush – which is hardly surprising given the conspirators previous convictions. As you might expect it is an album that generally wears its heart on its sleeve. Something in me tells me that, as such, it shouldn’t really work as a cohesive unit but the undeniable fact is that on this album it does – so much so that, despite my original intention, I’ve now decided not to name tracks – it is an album best listened to in its entirety. If you like any/all of Stars, Metric and Feist you need this – as Amy Millan, Emily Haines and Leslie Feist provide almost all the female vocals here, backed up by Torquil Campbell (Stars) on male vocals and a whole host of talented musicians who all come and go with the tracks, for Broken Social Scene is a ‘collective’ and not a ‘band’. If you liked Broken Social Scene 'You Forgot It In People' then in all probability you will wish to hear this too, but I guess you already know that. It is beautifully packaged with an extra EP it will possibly cost you little, if any, more. My recommendation is to get the CD+EP version. 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. 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'. 'Hotel' is off-kilter downbeat r'n'b, a kind of tripped-out 'Lover's Rock' and the album's most singular moment. '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. 'Fire Eye'd Boy' is another one to satisfy the indie kids, a fine piece of pop-hookery, but then it gets more interesting. 'Finish your collapse and stay for breakfast' is electronic noodling while 'Major label debut' show their more twee indie sensibilities. '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. Picking up where 'Pacific Theme' left off on the last record, this is one of the best tracks for me. 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. 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. 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. However, they also excel at jazzy post-rock and - on this record - Prince-style R&B! 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. 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. Broken Social Scene are a very unusual band.
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