Canadian music collective follows up 2003 masterpiece
Granted, eponymous album titles are usually reserved for first records. And the stifling pressure attending a band’s follow-up is traditionally reserved for second records. But if you’re Broken Social Scene, such narrow rules do not apply.
The Canadian music collective’s masterpiece of a second album, You Forgot it in People, released in 2003, thrust the band into the indie-rock spotlight. Fortunately for those expectantly awaiting Broken Social Scene’s follow-up, this self-titled affair (originally titled Windsurfing Nation) delivers handsomely.
From the bouncy bass of “7/4 (Shoreline)” to the handclaps of “Windsurfing Nation” and the hushed, blue-eyed soul vocals of “Hotel,” Broken Social Scene builds on gentle nuances, compounding its effect incrementally with each track. The record’s culmination arrives with brick-wall force in the horns closing the just-shy-of-10-minute album closer “It’s All Gonna Break.” Serving as a quintessential musical coda, the track hits with such “what was that?” power, the only thing you can do is play the album again in hopes of discovering more of its rich subtleties.