Music Marathon 2007, Part 5 (Drew, Kevin – Francis, Sage)

More entries from the backlog…

(Broken Social Scene Presents…) Kevin Drew – Spirit If…

Since You Forgot It in People, a wonderfully eclectic collection that’s almost as good as its fine reputation suggests, Broken Social Scene has gotten a bit of a free pass from its fans and critics alike. This resulted in the ambitious, but uneven, self-titled album from 2005, which featured the band coasting on that good will, stretching out in a number of directions, occasionally connecting in striking, impressive ways, but most often in need of a good editor (especially one who might have nixed some of the soundalike songs – BSS’s diversity is marked by an inability to do a different style a different way, so that the rockers tend to resemble each other, etc.). Spirit If… is (at least according to Drew) yet another attempt to stretch out, but the returns have greatly diminished. For one, the stretching out has more to do with song length here. A number of the songs hit the six-minute mark, most go over four, and barely any require more than three. Drew hurts himself again and again with choruses and verses that repeat one or two too many times, sloppy transitions, and outros that go on forever. “Lucky Ones” would be one of the catchier songs of the year at half the length; at 6:44, it grates, and you wonder what could have convinced Drew that the best way to connect disparate verses and choruses is to insert a pause every single time.

Also, Drew seems to be blind to his true strengths and weaknessesl (see photo above). In a recent Pitchfork interview, he characterized this LP as an “emotional mixtape,” as if it sounded like a collection of songs by different bands. The problem is, as with the BSS self-titled release, if Drew explores three styles very well, every song in a given style sounds like a retread of the last song in that style (plus, his signature strained whisper ties the tracks together, for better or worse). The interview also mentions Drew’s tendency to use explicit terms to discuss sex in his lyrics, and its casualness. It doesn’t strike me as casual, but deliberately provocative, very show-offy. For comparison’s sake, see how subtly Matt Berninger of the National drops the same type of explicit terms. Anyway, I’m off-topic. It’s a deeply okay album, that, with better editing, would be quite a good one.