One of the most highly anticipated album releases of 2010 is arriving on store shelves this month as Broken Social Scene prepares to celebrate a decade of their original chaotic hipster-pop orchestrations.
The Juno Award–winning group’s latest album, Forgiveness Rock Record, is a sonic feast of sounds crafted into disarmingly tight ambient pop jams playing off the themes of love found and lost as well as letting go of baggage and moving on.
With the release comes a new period for the band, boasting its most consistent and “together” lineup since the band’s inception. And back then there were only two members crafting groovy instrumental compositions in the basement. According to Andrew Whiteman, for the first time, band members are actually taking time off from their myriad of side projects to concentrate on this release. And it seems to be paying off.
Although as anarchic as one might expect from a BSS album, there is a consistency and a togetherness that is new and elevates the music to previously uncharted territory.
The core of the touring band remains with Brendan Canning and co-founder Kevin Drew, along with Charles Spearin, Whiteman, Justin Peroff and Sam Goldberg. Added to the mix is a more solidified role for singer Lisa Lobsinger with past singers, including Leslie Feist, Metric’s Emily Haines and Amy Milan of Stars moving aside, save for one track, “Sentimental Xs” that features all three. And that, says Whiteman, has proven to be a major boon for the band.
“Lisa has been very involved in this record, and I feel very fantastic about that,” Whiteman explains. “She’s had to put up with a lot of bulls–t, but she’s stepping up and playing a lot more now.”
For Whiteman, after 10 solid years, the band is more family than anything else.
“The band is like a weird combination of things. It is my dysfunctional, mostly male family,” he says. “They are all pretty incredible musicians … and I feel like we know each other pretty well, so we give each other a fair amount of room.”
After the album release, the band heads out on tour for the summer, including a performance at their own concert on T.O.’s Olympic Island next month. Despite the band’s success, and the wave of “indie” fever the last few years, Whiteman remains but a humble music vessel.
“This is my living, you know. I have to be thankful,” says Whiteman. “When the hype wave hits someone else, they won’t give a s–t about you.” For more information, go to www. brokensocialscene.ca.