Broken Social Scene performs at Legacy Taipei on Sunday, and it’s a safe bet that indie-rock fans will be out in full force to see one of the most beloved groups of the past decade.
The Canadian band, often referred to as a musical “collective” because of its rotating cast over the years of between a half-dozen to 19 members, arrives in Taipei this weekend fresh from a European tour and a headlining spot at the Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago.
Forgiveness Rock Record, the band’s first recording in five years, was released a few months ago and has enjoyed a warm reception in both the indie and mainstream music press.
For some, the album’s title and
subject matter have proven to be timely
in light of the violent protests at last month’s G20 summit in Toronto, Broken Social Scene’s hometown.
The band reacted to the events by posting a music video made by an anonymous fan for its instrumental song Meet Me in the Basement (www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiRjwpCrCMc) on its official YouTube page, writing, “We are proud to share this mash-up with you.”
The video, a dizzying collage of images and footage that centers on confrontations between G20 protestors and police, was a weary commentary on society and pop culture. Riot scenes in Toronto were mixed with fleeting images of war zones, prominent politicians, Justin Bieber and the BP oil spill.
So does Broken Social Scene see its music — restlessly eclectic in sound and sometimes lyrically obtuse — as a statement on current events?
“A lot of people in the band have a lot to say about what’s going on in the world,” said Justin Peroff, Broken Social Scene’s drummer and a member since the early days of the band, on the phone from Toronto earlier this week.
“I’ve shared some really interesting conversations with my bandmates over the years [about] topics that we’re concerned about,” said the 32-year-old, who considers the events in Toronto to be a “shock.”
Another topic of concern for the band might be found in the new song Texico Bitches, a deceptively carefree-sounding pop tune with lyrics that easily read as a condemnation of big oil companies. It also displays the band’s knack for sugarcoating a dark sentiment with a catchy hook.
Peroff says the song makes him think of The Smiths. “They wrote really sweet pop songs, but at the end of the day the juxtaposition was that these sweet pop songs had a lot of sadness and tragedy intertwined and disguised within a pop song,” he said.
“I don’t think [Texico Bitches] was intended to be that way, but it’s one of those tunes that has that contrast of pop song with an ultimately sad lyrical context — not in the same way as a Smiths song, but politically, for sure.”
Forgiveness Rock Record is perhaps the band’s most accessible recording to date. The experimental noise backdrops are still there, but there are fewer wandering jams, and the songs are tighter.
“We were really focused this time around,” said Peroff, noting that a change in scenery helped. For the first time, the band recorded outside of Toronto, relieving its members of the distractions of their hometown and families. They went to Chicago to work with one of their musical heroes, musician and producer John McEntire, best known as a member of the post-rock groups Tortoise and The Sea and Cake.
Peroff says the change in sound is also attributable to McEntire, who gave the production a “cleaner” feel. But even though the band went into the studio with pre-planned songs, they did return to some old habits in the process: “In classic Broken Social Scene form, we couldn’t help but write a whole bunch of songs in the moment and in the studio, which is maybe because our attention span is pretty small. In doing so, we ended up writing 45 songs or so.”
The band managed to whittle Forgiveness down to 14 tracks. As for the album title, Peroff says each bandmember has his or her own explanation. His take: “As far as the word forgiveness goes, any record that any band or musician makes, certainly Broken Social Scene, is a bit of a love letter ... and in any love letter one of the emotions expressed is forgiveness.”
Does he need to be forgiven? And
for what?
“I’m not asking for forgiveness and not necessarily delivering forgiveness either, but maybe as a collective we are. That seems a bit cryptic, but part of the adventure of music is to interpret it, so
I don’t want to give away any endings
too quickly.”
Here’s one ending that can be given away for Sunday’s concert. Die-hard fans won’t be seeing Broken Social Scene’s past star female vocalists, each of whom appears on the new album: Leslie Feist, who now enjoys a successful solo career; Emily Haines of new wave band Metric; and Amy Millan, who happens to have an intensely loyal following in Taiwan with her band Stars.
And despite the band’s reputation for its constantly changing personnel, Peroff says that since its self-titled album of 2005, the band has settled on a core group of seven members that includes himself, founders Kevin Drew and Brendan Canning, Andrew Whiteman, Charles Spearin, Sam Goldberg and singer Lisa Lobsinger. For Sunday’s concert, they will be joined by several other musicians, including a brass horn section.
On this second visit to Taipei, Broken Social Scene will be playing a bigger venue. Ticket sales for Sunday’s show at Legacy Taipei are expected to be almost double the group’s last show at The Wall (這牆) in 2008, which saw 500 people attending, according to Sky Tai (戴杏芳), a musician and store manager at White Wabbit Records (小白兔唱片), which is promoting the concert.
Tai says Broken Social Scene’s following in Taiwan started off slow but is beginning to pick up. The band’s last concert in Taipei might have sealed its appeal.
“They have this feeling of brotherhood [live on stage],” she said. “Everyone likes that.”
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