Broken Social Scene members continue side-projects

DALE EISINGER
Culture Writer

Issue date: 3/8/07 Section: Culture

Toronto’s Broken Social Scene has become an iconic indie supergroup, famous for its rollicking and experimental pop nature. Unfortunately, its success has belayed the main endeavors of some of the band members (Feist had to leave the group completely to pursue her solo career). As Broken Social Scene takes a hiatus from touring and recording, a nearly simultaneous release of two BSS side-projects has occurred.

Do Make Say Think and Apostle of Hustle, housing BSS members Ohad Benchetrit, Charles Spearin, and lead guitarist Andrew Whiteman respectively, have each released albums that are worth the money of any fan of Broken Social Scene or just downright talented musicians.

Do Make Say Think – ‘You, You’re a History in Rust’

Totally cohesive track-to-track, “You, You’re a History in Rust,” ebbs and flows with calm and forceful strains,
alternately realized. This contrast speaks to the band’s
propensity to record in backwoods cabins and barns, drawing influence from nature’s power to be both docile and wild.

The album’s opener, “Bound to Be That Way,” lulls the listener in with miniscule saxophone and clarinet drawls, faint
piano tones and guitar notes that sound like massive harps
before DMST crash into the band’s central focus – the guitar, bass and drums. The rest of the track builds up luxuriant melodies that explore the song’s rhythmic theme while the disjointed drum beat continually clicks and hisses on.

The song eventually breaks itself down, only to build back up again, with a return of the horns and by-now familiar drumbeat. By the end of the track, the guitar swells approach like typhoons – you can see them coming from a distance, but by the time they’ve hit, they’re powerful and totally immersive.
Ending the track with a crash, DMST waste no time by segueing mysteriously into the mellowed out, vaguely folkish “A With Living.”

This straight-ahead ballad is at a complete contrast to the songs that bookend it, particularly the album’s single, “The Universe!” a rowdy rocker that never slows down or finds dynamic middle ground. The guitars are distortion and reverb heavy and in the end just plain loud. The drums pound on, and the horn blasts in the last chorus are reminiscent of more than one or two Broken Social Scene refrains.

The entire album continues in this up-and-down post-rock to neo-folk contrast without ever losing the listener’s attention — it’s certainly manic, but what isn’t these days?

Apostle of Hustle – ‘National Anthem of Nowhere’

Relying more heavily on vocals and guitar licks than lush instrumentals, Apostle of Hustle’s new effort recoils from itself track-to-track, exploring myriad genres with little forgiveness of its varied form: from the clear-cut indie-rock of “Cheap Like Sebastian,” with its bouncy bass line and female backups, to the sweltering Latin vibe that “Rafaga!” sets (Whiteman even pulls an Aguilera here, singing in Spanish).

“National Anthem of Nowhere,” is a perfect title for an album that spans an entire book of vaguely ethnic styles.

Considering Whiteman’s work in Broken Social Scene, the lead guitar is expectantly superb throughout, cultivating a rhythmic variation often avoided in music that grounds itself in conventional pop structures. Luckily, the percussion is straightforward and commanding, keeping a clear eye on the indie-pop dyadic of the familiar and the new.

The title track stands out with a bustling and constant pulsing melody that fulfills its potential with horns blaring near the end, sounding oddly like the last lines of Broken Social Scene’s “7/4 Shoreline” (this is not a complaint).

The song is arresting, triumphant and yet with a melancholic air that is shaped by the heavy lyrics. Whiteman’s vocals prevail throughout the album, at times masked by a post-production distortion that seems a bit unnecessary for his velvety crooning. Regardless, the album is funky, rocking, and completely enjoyable.

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