Forgiveness Rock Record by Broken Social Scene
LABEL: Arts & Crafts  |||  RELEASE: May 4, 2010

Forgiveness Rock Record is the first proper Broken Social Scene release in almost five years—though the two more recent ’solo’ albums by the groups founders might as well be considered canon, seeing as how many of the groups stable members and collaborators featured heavily on each.
   
But the ”˜real’ band is back, sporting a pared down lineup of seven musicians, about as many guests, a brand new producer, and more then an hours worth of songs. The results are amazing!
   
It kicks off with what feels like, to me at least, a rather clever fake-out. Opener “World Sick” is a full-on throwback to their much criticized 2005 release, a slowly-building self-indulgent monster, all soaring choruses carried by Kevin Drews breathy intonations.
   
It’s a great song in it’s own right, but it seems to exist mostly to reassure fans that “we can still make music like this in our sleep,” and to bait critics by setting the album up to be more of the same before pulling the rug right out from under them. Most of the album is brave new territory for BSS.
   
There’s the high-energy “Chase Scene,” which layers drum machines and manic choir vocals into an explosive climax. The curiously named and effortlessly catchy “Texico Bitches” is all synth pop and propulsive guitars, perfect for summer driving. “Forced to Love” is probably the most straightforward rock song the band has ever written, though the ease with which the lyrics spill out of Drews mouth, and the off-balance instrumentation, prove entirely captivating.
   
And this is just the first 15 minutes of the album.
   
In fact, the most common criticism of Forgiveness Rock Record will probably be that it’s too ambitious, that the songs vary too much, that there’s no cohesion.
   
But I wholeheartedly disagree.
   
It’s stronger than either of the Broken Social Scene Present albums, has none of the filler that bracketed Feels Good Lost, and sidesteps the issues that made their last album so critically divisive.

Every single song here is fully formed and fully engaging. I’m hesitant to say it’s their best effort yet, mostly for nostalgic reasons, but it’s good enough that I could easily consider it.

The era of Canadian dominance in indie rock that Broken Social Scene did so much to usher in may have faded years ago, but Forgiveness Rock Record shows that the band that started it all has lost absolutely nothing.


REVIEWED BY MAT LINDENBERG
MAT’S FAVORITE TRACKS: “Sweetest Kill” • “Forced To Love” • “Ungrateful Little Father”
Read more from Mat on his blog, Everything is Unnecessary