Broken Social Scene

A dizzying array of members came and went throughout the history of the ever-changing Broken Social Scene, but the heart of the group was always Brendan Canning and Kevin Drew, who started the Toronto-based band in 1999. Broken Social Scene always embraced a maximalist musical approach, sometimes including upwards of a dozen members to create a kind of indie-rock orchestra, utilizing horns, strings, and various other orchestral instruments in addition to the usual guitar/bass/keys/drums axis. The band was at the center of the Toronto indie scene that blossomed in the mid 2000s, and frequently included other artists from that scene, including a pre-fame Feist, and members of Metric, Stars, Do Make Say Think, and others. The first Broken Social Scene album, 2001's Feel Good Lost, consisted mostly of delicate, ambient-tinged post-rock instrumental tracks. But after its release, Canning and Drew began recruiting friends from other Toronto bands to add lyrics and vocals to their live show. And by the time the follow-up, You Forgot It In People, was released the following year, the expanded lineup was a part of the sound, vocals and all. The arrival of David Newfeld as producer helped to flesh things out more fully into the kind of large-scale sound that Broken Social Scene would become known for. The album caught the ear of indie-rock audiences in America as well as Canada, and raised the band's profile. Their self-titled 2005 LP, also produced by Newfeld, earned Broken Social Scene an even wider audience. Drew released a solo album, Spirit If in 2007, followed by Canning's own solo outing, Something For All Of Us, the next year. With side projects out of the way, BSS began work on a fourth album; 2010's Forgiveness Rock Record, produced by Tortoise's John McEntire and featuring members of Pavement and Death From Above in addition to the usual Canadian crew, turned out to be the band's most successful outing so far, going to No. 1 in Canada. Nevertheless, in 2011 Broken Social Scene stated that they would be going on a hiatus of undetermined length. By 2013, however, they were performing live again and releasing one-off cuts for various compilation albums, and in 2016, a comeback LP was announced.