NPR: All Songs Considered – Broken Social Scene Presents Kevin Drew

I admit to being somewhat underwhelmed by Kevin Drew’s Spirit If… LP. My expectations for the record were sky high. Kevin Drew is the main character of Broken Social Scene, one of my favourite bands ever and I saw the record as a follow up to two great ones from his main band. The album as I found it at the time never found its groove with me for whatever reason.

In one of the last concerts broadcast last year as part of NPR’s All Songs Considered podcast, Broken Social Scene (lineup in this case: Kevin Drew, Brendan Canning, Andrew Kenny, Jimmy Shaw, Sam Goldberg and Justin Peroff) performs material from Kevin Drew’s Spirit If… record in Washington DC. The last time I saw Broken Social Scene I thought the three hour extravaganza that night was the best show I had ever been to and this recorded show, all songs considered, carries that same high mark.

Longtime BSS producer Dave Newfeld was notorious amongst band mates for his meticulous production on their past albums. Not wanting to downplay his mad skillz (I loved the everything snipped to perfection quality of ‘You Forgot It In People’ and beautiful mess of the self-titled) but the mix on this live show is clear and excellent enough to be near studio quality. The qualities inherent of a live mix help out here too: the bass kicks and the synths and vocals are pushed up. Not only does this give the songs more punch and vivre but it also makes the melodies more obvious and easier to catch on. Meanwhile the banter between the ever charming Kevin Drew and Brendan Canning is hilarious and the extended intros and outros are as inventive and cool as ever you’d expect from a Broken Social Scene show.

The set list is mostly from Spirit If and it sounds way more awesome here than I would have ever thought it could. Now I’m going back to Spirit If and giving it another chance because by the sounds of it, I had written it off way too early. If you have even a passing interest in Broken Social Scene I highly recommend giving this show a listen.

You can listen to the show on NPR by clicking this link or by subscribing to NPR: All Songs Considered via iTunes or your favourite RSS feed reader.

By Jonathan Codfour.