Being an upper hierarchical supergroup such as Broken Social Scene has meant that the group has always had certain unique advantages. Solid solo efforts from Kevin Drew, Brendan Kenning, Emily Haines, and Leslie Fiest show that the crew has a vast array of talented and creative sources to draw from. Their is a great deal of variety peppered through out Forgiveness Rock Record. This is undoubtedly the album's biggest strength. With so many different vocal sources and perspectives, this is an album that maintains a fresh appeal even after repeated adventures through its content. “Art House Director” has a playful big folk band vibe, blended with low key funk. The first single, “World Sick” is typical of the bombastic grandstanding that BSS only occasionally showcases. “Meet Me in the Basement” is a spiritual successor of sorts to “KC Accidental” from You Forgot in People. This time however it is free from the conflicting depressed nature of KC and is instead carries an anxious optimistic quality.
While the album is refreshingly diverse in terms of sound and pacing, it carries a thematicly consistent message throughout. Their first studio LP focused primarily on conflict and anguish- the things we do to hurt people. Their 2005 LP (unofficially called Windsurfing Nation) was more about distancing oneself from such issues. With Forgiveness Rock Record, the group returns to the problems of the past, not to rehash them but instead to find closure and as the name implies, forgiveness. In retrospect, this may seem like a logical progression, but it seems unexpected coming from what was initially such a cynical experience. There is evidence of this throughout the record. Emily Haines sings “Off and on is what we want”, admiring that it was at least not entirely the other persons fault.
In past efforts, Broken Social Scene has suffered from the malignant “too many cooks in the kitchen issue”. With so many unique sources of creative input trying to coalesce into a single coherent stream, individual ideas and concepts end up clashing with others and regrettably create a somewhat washed out sound. This time around that problem has been, while not entirely, greatly alleviated. Instruments and voices are more balanced with considerably less obtuse white noise obscuring the beat- especially compared to their second LP. The whole album benefits from a more direct focus in terms of melody; songs sound tighter, albeit it slightly less expansive than previous work. Regardless, its good to see the group tinkering with the Broken Social Scene formula. Adding some fresh blood to the group seems to have paid off, giving them something of a new edge.
Much to the chagrin of myself and no doubt others as well, Forgiveness Rock Record, like its predecessors suffers from an almost conceited and pretentious devotion to boring bland and long fade outs. “World Sick” is a terrific opening track, with a grand sense of scale and scope setting the tone for a more opportune oriented album- for the first 5 minutes at least. The listener is then subjected to nearly 2 aimless minutes of nothing more than the last remaining instrumental notes lethargicly wasting away into nothingness. This is a particularly sore point of contention for me when it comes to music; one that I will give no group a pass on. “Great Release” by LCD Soundsystem is absolutely brilliant- but I always skip the last 60 seconds of epilogue. BSS are even worse offenders here. Why are they wasting their and our time with this. They prove in the very next track, “Crash Scene” that they are just as conformable closing a track with a brief, intense climax that is vastly more satisfying. “ungrateful little father” is just as frustrating, as the song devolves into the occasional chiming of a twinkling bell for, again, almost two minutes. It seems like they were trying to create the ephemeral twilight of recent Animal Collective songs- instead it sounds boring. This worst part of this is it makes an otherwise interesting and adventurous album seem long in the tooth and makes listening to the whole thing a laborious chore; it really shouldn't be.
Nevertheless the parts of substance are engaging- effectively bridging the gap between hi tempo optimism and relaxed contemplation. Nothing about this album is depressing; regret and remorse are eschewed by contentment. It seems that their experiment was a success. As long as its summer, Broken Social Scene might as well have mad some summer music.
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