[rating=8.00]
The Canadian musical collective known as Broken Social Scene has been making music together since 1999. Formed by its core duo of Kevin Drew and Brendan Canning, the band has been made up of as few six members to as many as eighteen, the latter of which is how many took part in the recording of their newest album, Hug of Thunder. Becoming an almost super group in reverse, original members like Leslie Feist and Emily Haines have gone on to form their own successful groups, Feist and Metric, respectively. Though many members of the collective have their own projects, they are all capable of setting aside ego and describe themselves as a family with all the ups and downs that come with it. Hug of Thunder is their first album since 2010’s Forgiveness Rock Record and is their most cohesive sounding since their eponymous release in 2005.
The album begins with the atmospheric instrumental “Sol Luna”, reminiscent of the sound from their largely instrumental debut album, Feel Good Lost. This short instrumental is followed up by a barrage of guitars strumming out major chords that run seemingly opposite from the darker lyrical content of someone running from their past, containing the tenacious lyric “You’ll forget/ Call out for change/ But not believe in anything.” Political callouts pop up throughout the album, as many members are activists and acknowledge this on tracks like “Protest Song,” an enthusiastic tune on which Emily Haines chants: “We’re just the latest on the longest rank and file list ever to exist in the history of the protest song”. Be that as it may, the album is ultimately not a protest album. This is best heard in the album’s title track, which comes from a song that Leslie Feist brought over from recording sessions of her new album, Pleasures. In the song, Feist sings of gradually finding strength in yourself. This sentiment is echoed on the track “Stay Happy”, sung by their newest member Ariel Engle.
At the end of the day, the album is optimistic in its lyrical content, encouraging the listener to cherish their interpersonal relationships as a way to weather the times in which we find ourselves. In promoting the album, the band stated, “After seven years, we all came back together to create our new record, ‘Hug of Thunder’ to embrace this world we live in and remind people we must keep holding on to each other to get through the struggle of continuing”. Whether an anthem or a ballad, the songs on Hug of Thunder encapsulate this sentiment and show us that they are more than just a sum of their parts and more like the family that they profess to be.
Photo: Norman Wong
