Spirit If …
Label: Arts & Crafts
Length: LP
Rated: NONE
Media: CD
Format: Album
WorkNameSort: Spirit If …
Ever know anyone too beautiful? Broken Social Scene co-founder Kevin Drew counts “You are too beautiful to fuck” as one of his woes on Spirit If … over rolling guitars and woodwinds, a dense instrumental display that’s become omnipresent with his Canadian indie powerhouse over the years. His frank observation materializes on “Tbtf,” the second entry in Spirit If …’s collection of shimmering pieces starring Drew and the rest of Broken Social Scene. The first in this “solo” series, it’s undeniably and inevitably a BSS album – loaded with extraordinary, cinematic moments and others that don’t register immediately as such; when they do, it’s a splendor of sound. “Big Love” belongs to the former group. It doesn’t near the straightaway starry ballroom glow of “Lover’s Spit” (a BSS You Forgot It in People standout), but it’s sloppy, with erratic mood shifts and keyboard bursts toward its end. As far as being “too beautiful,” that’s anyone’s guess; it’s beautiful, though, without question.
This article appears in Sep 19-25, 2007.