John McEntire produces Broken Social Scene

Broken Social Scene back together in Austin

Local rock heroes had to reassemble to launch new album

By Ben Rayner Entertainment Reporter

AUSTIN, TEXAS–It's no accident that Broken Social Scene has chosen the South by Southwest festival for the big international unveiling of its new album, Forgiveness Rock Record.

SXSW was where it all started happening for Broken back in 2003, when there was a growing, Pitchfork-abetted buzz around its sophomore album, You Forgot It in People, but still little awareness outside Canada what the rangy Toronto collective was capable of onstage.

That would all change very quickly that March after a single, memorable South by Southwest gig at the slightly out-of-the-way live-music haunt Momo's – one that, oddly enough, had BSS playing second fiddle to the then red-hot Montreal outfit the Stills.

Such an impression was made at that show that, one year later, Broken Social Scene was able to return to SXSW and headline one of Austin's largest venues, the venerable outdoor amphitheatre Stubb's, before a crowd of more than 2,000 breathless fans, while the many satellite acts associated with it – Metric, Stars and Jason Collett among them – were well on their way to becoming marquee names in their own right. Soon after, BSS would go on to close one of the main stages at Lollapalooza in Chicago, playing to some 50,000 people. It had officially arrived. And that arrival was, in large part, due to two big splashes made at South by Southwest.

"When we played here, it felt like the beginning," concurs de facto BSS frontman Kevin Drew at Stubb's, where the band reassumed headlining status on Thursday.

"We got so lucky," says Jeff Remedios, who'd just quit a full-time job at Virgin Records in 2003 to start the indie label Arts and Crafts with Drew. "The way South by Southwest works, you have to go early to shows because of the lineups and we were playing right before this really hyped buzz band called the Stills, who none of us knew. All of these people came early to see the Stills, and not only did they enjoy them but they left going `Who is this Broken Social Scene?' And out of that one little show, we got our American booking agent, our European booking agent, our failed European record deal, our publicist, all kinds of stuff – all out of one show."

Arts and Crafts has come to South by Southwest 2010 with 10 artists, 15 staff and two separate, evening-long showcases on the schedule. The top item on the label's agenda right now, though, is Forgiveness Rock Record, which arrives on May 4, a full five years on from BSS's last record, the difficult, divisive Broken Social Scene.

Anyone familiar with recent Broken history (or Stuart Berman's recent tell-all This Book is Broken) knows that it's a minor miracle there's a record at all. The past five years might have witnessed tremendous success for such on-again/off-again members as Metric and Leslie Feist, but personal relationships within the band went through difficult contortions and, for a while, it looked like there might never be another Broken Social Scene record.

As it stands, the ensemble that made Forgiveness Rock Record with producer (and Tortoise/Sea and Cake drummer) John McEntire in Chicago and Toronto last year is a leaner, meaner unit than the sprawling, incestuous family responsible for the last two albums. The Broken core these days is Drew, Canning, Charles Spearin, Andrew Whiteman, Justin Peroff and relative newcomers Lisa Lobsinger and Sam Goldberg, and on Forgiveness this crew leans noticeably less heavily on contributions from the usual rotating cast of guests.

"We did it as a way smaller, tighter unit, but at the same time, not really because the guests are all there," says Drew, adding he had made peace with their possible absence, but "I didn't know if I wanted to spend the next two years answering questions about why they weren't there.

"I don't get to see these people. I don't see Leslie (Feist) any more. It's tough to see Amy (Millan) and Evan (Cranley) because they live in Montreal. Jimmy (Shaw) and Emily (Haines) have been on the road so much. They just came and we hung out in the studio for a few days in Toronto. Just to hang out was enough."

Broken Social Scene hasn't closed the door on collaborations, by any stretch. Metric's Haines and Shaw were invited onstage Thursday night to perform You Forgot It In People's show-stopping "Anthems For a Seventeen-Year-Old Girl," while stretches of the show featured a six-piece horn section, the Beauties acting as a sort of all-male chorus line and vocal contributions from Jason Collett.

Still, the bulk of the performance was given over to (re-)introducing the seven-piece lineup as a potent melodic force, bravely putting the emphasis on unfamiliar Forgiveness Rock Record tunes such as "Texico Bitches" and "The Sweetest Kill" rather than standards like "Fire Eye'd Boy." As strong as the new material sounded, the tactic had thinned the crowd at Stubb's by a good third as last call approached and many less devoted fans wound up missing the set's boffo closing attacks on the intense (and Tortoise-like) new jam "Meet Me in the Basement" and "Major Label Debut."

Part of Broken Social Scene's charm is its capacity to frustrate, though, so this was entirely in character. It was also a nice reminder how lucky we are that this thing has hung together for so long.

"There were a lot of `internal relations' going on, and once those things start to implode ..." says Drew. "As Collett would say, you're always experimenting with intimacy in this band. I think things just had to settle and take some time. Everybody has a lot of respect for each other and I think a lot of people don't understand how much of a family we were, and hopefully will always be.

"With the personal relations and all the successes, I think you lose the plot a little bit. I think that's the way it's supposed to go and there's nothing wrong with that. It's okay to get lost."