First Look: Broken Social Scene Presents Brendan Canning – ‘Something For All Of Us…’

With the Broken brand diluted a bit by Kevin Drew’s lackluster Spirit If…, the first entry into the Broken Social Scene presents series, and the band’s early-’00s buzz fading fast, it wouldn’t surprise me if people pass over bassist Brendan Canning‘s “solo” debut. But you and I know better. Naysayers would be missing out on one of the year’s best albums, a sumptuous feast of everything that made You Forgot It In People one of the most captivating records in recent memory.

Canning may lack Drew’s anthem-ready pipes, but he’s also thankfully free from the BSS frontman’s potty-mouth poetry. His singing is able enough to captain these majestic, tall-masted songs, which return the band (because if this isn’t a BSS album, I don’t know what is) to the energy and drive of YFIIP. Something For All Of Us… is certainly on par with 2005’s self-titled effort, which muddied some great songs with overcooked production and then underwrote the rest (“Hotel,” the promising “It’s All Gonna Break”). It’s probably better. The songs are beautiful and pulsing and effortless, never too cluttered but still rich and vibrant enough to make your jaw drop. And even better, after an unmastered copy leaked a few days back, it’s out now on Arts & Crafts. The retail copy drops July 22, but I think $11.34 for an album this great is something all of us should spend today.

Brendan Canning – “Hit the Wall”: mp3

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