Broken Social Scene - Forgiveness Rock Record (Arts & Crafts)

Supergroups usually don't work out. They are short lasted and bring exciting music one minute and drama follows within a couple of minutes, as a Time Magazine article stated that supergroups are "fueled by dueling egos". Broken Social Scene is a supergroup, but a pretty good one. They've produced four studio albums, five film scores including The Invisible, so I guess you could say that Broken Social Scene is one of the more successfully long lasting supergroups. They're also a huge one, they have all walks of life in indie music from baroque to dream pop and beyond. There are over twenty members to Broken Social Scene and their latest LP Forgiveness Rock Record showcases their diverse indie sound that changes from song to song.

Some of the very notable guest appearances that appear on Forgiveness Rock Record are Feist, Emily Hanes from Metric, Scott "Spiral Stairs" Kannberg from Pavement and Sebastian Grainger from Death From Above 1979. Those collaborations show that Broken Social Scene is a major interstate for indie artist and music. The diversity of each song is very unique and artistic to an album. From the country chaos of "Water In Hell" to the beautiful lo-fi ballad of "Me and My Hand" and even showing some sitar work on "Ungrateful Little Father".

It's kind of like a compilation album with so many different solo artists performing, it's a fun listen through. Some songs to lack the fun indie sound though, "Chase Scene" has a very bizarre feel to it and doesn't deliver as effectively as the rest of the diversity on the album, but despite the negative it still does build up into a very exciting finish.

There really isn't much else to say about the album other than it is a fresh breath of indie to your ears. Artistic approaches are everywhere on the album, but basically it sounds like a indie kids getting together in a studio basement and have a blast. The chatter at the end of "Water In Hell" proves it. Suupergroups are mostly made of very known members of bands, but Broken Social Scene is different; their from unknown indie acts and other solo artist that haven't really made it to far in the indie universe, but still have fun making wonderful indie with a giant group of music makers.

Overall: 8.0/10.0 GREAT

Track Listing:

1. World Sick - 8.5
2. Chase Scene - 6.5
3. Texico B*****s - 7.0
4. Forced To Love - 8.0
5. All To All - 8.0
6. Art House Director - 8.0 *
7. Highway Slippery Jam - 7.0
8. Ungrateful Little Father - 7.5
9. Meet Me In the Basement - 8.0
10. Sentiment X's - 8.5 *
11. Sweetest Kill - 8.5 *
12. Romance To the Grave - 9.0 *
13. Water In Hell - 8.0
14. Me and My Hand - 9.5 *

* - Notable Track

Sample:

"Sweetest Kill (Live)"