Broken Social Scene return, wholesome as ever

The Canadian collective – comprised of anything from six to 19 band members – has managed to regroup all its original members for their fifth studio album, Hug Of Thunder.

This time there are 15 of them, including returnees Leslie Feist (from Feist) and Emily Haines (from Metric), and the album is worth every last one.

“It’s just such a wonderful sentiment about us, coming in like a hug of thunder,” said Kevin Drew, one of the men behind the ensemble.

“I don’t want to go out there being presumptuous.

“Because I’ve worn those presumptuous shoes before, and you don’t want it to feel like, ‘Oh, what a let-down.'”

It’s an understandable fear after being away for seven years, with most its members busy with other, successful bands, projects or solo careers.

Back in the early noughties, BSS were the indie rock band every tasteful young adult listened to – but no one expected them to return.

“By autumn of 2015 we had started getting together and trying some ideas out, just getting back in that jam space, in Charles’ garage, Brendan Canning, another co-founder said.

“Then we set up shop in my living room and we were starting to come together in a very familiar kind of way, jamming in the living room, eating meals in the kitchen together, because that’s what the band is about: ‘Hey, let’s all get on the same page and get the energies flowing in the same direction,'” he added.

“After going to all these studios, we just worked there, doing back-up vocals and handclaps and all the s*** we used to do when we were younger.”

More than a decade has passed from their 2001 debut Feel Good Lost and their 2002 breakthrough You Forgot It In People and, although older and wiser, their new album still manages to maintain the same energy and youthful melancholy of the past.

“All the adult problems in the world were happening around us individually, whether it was divorce or cancer,” Drew said, recalling how three members of the band lost their fathers while the album was being recorded.

“And it seemed like the days of going in the studio, getting stoned, drinking five beers and saying, ‘Who gives a f***?’ were over.”

But stars and sons collided, the old gang got back together, and want their new record to make people “pause for the cause and maybe just leave things in your life alone for 53 minutes”.

Hug Of Thunder is not an album to shuffle, but to enjoy as a wholesome piece of art. It’s an album to remind their fans that the band is there for them and far from broken.

“I just hope they understand that there’s others out there, that they’re not alone,” Drew explains.

“I know that’s silly! But you’d be surprised how many times I’ve had to tell people, ‘Hey, you’re not alone on this, you’re not alone thinking these things.’

“Broken Social Scene is about the people, and it’s always been about the people.”