It’s hard to believe it’s been five years since Broken Social Scene dropped their last album, but within minutes of listening to their new release, Forgiveness Rock Record, it’s obvious that no one has even come close to challenging them as the indie-rock collective of the aughts.
Album opener World Sick is typical BSS fare, beginning with echoing drums and slinky guitar lines and eventually building to an epic, arena-rock climax that would make Bono jealous. The pretty, slow-burning Sentimental Xs, featuring vocals by Emily Haines, Feist, and Amy Millan, isn’t quite as mind-blowing as you’d expect it to be, but Lisa Lobsinger picks up the slack on All to All, a drum machine–powered vehicle for her breathy voice. At times, the record doesn’t feel quite as complex as the groups earlier efforts, but even so, Kevin Drew and his band of Canadian rock royalty have produced another batch of intensely emotional, on-the-edge-of-falling-apart anthems.
