Broken Social Scene offer free new track

Forgiveness Rock Record cover art

Quick update on the Broken Social Scene news from Feb. 17, 2010. Their website is offering the free download of the first song from the aforementioned collaboration with John McEntire.

They have entitled the track “World Sick,” and it is quite a powerful number. Featuring BSS’s signature dynamics, the song builds from the ether of silence to the bombast of heavenly noise like only Broken Social Scene can swing it.

As usual, the drumming is solid and penetrating, putting the other instruments up to task, and they do not let down. As the drums fade in through the atmospheric shimmer of delicate guitar noises, a swinging guitar line begins driving the song, which actually recalls McEntire’s other project, the Sea and Cake. As the vocals take over, the guitar continues to insist as an echoing bit of guitar tremolo accents the end of the lyrics’ lines and the song swells to swishing cymbals and over-lapping guitar bits, sounding lush and a bit like early Spiritualized when things got ecstatic in their songs. The song ebbs and crescendos a couple of times only to quietly peter out to soft strums and a delicate percussive patter. It makes for a lovely six-and-a-half-minute piece that sets the bar high for the rest of the album.

Despite my early Tortoise expectations, this song actually has the brightness of a Sea and Cake song magnified with the potency of the larger band that is Broken Social Scene.

Download it by clicking through here.

Also, the group has a title for the album, not to mention cover art (see image). They have dubbed it Forgiveness Rock Record … Hmm, I wonder if they are asking fans to forgive them for taking five years to follow-up on their last album? If this offering is any hint, the wait has been worthwhile.

(Copyright 2010 by Hans Morgenstern. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.)