Broken Social Scene Presents Brendan Canning: Something For All Of Us

Like Kevin Drew's kinda-solo effort from last

year, Spirit If…,

Brendan Canning's new Something For All Of Us is simultaneously a

Broken Social Scene collaboration and a personal retreat. The ambience is

allowed to swim alongside the hooks and drift away at will. Canning doesn't

seem very interested in smashing those elements together the way BSS did on its

self-titled 2005 album and 2002's You Forgot It In People. On "Love Is New" and

"Hit The Wall," even the international party-time signal of a throbbing bass

becomes another trail into introverted static. Canning's layers don't spill all

over each other or lock together, they swirl about with uneven density.

Sometimes a horn part or breathy vocal pops right out, and sometimes it only

comes to attention after half a dozen listens. Except for "Churches Under The

Stairs," which harnesses BSS' pop heroics in a pleasant way, Something For

All Of Us

doggedly avoids immediate excitement and any sense of a cohesive goal.

Persistent listeners will find a lot of unwieldy sonics that slowly give up

their treats in the lilt of "Antique Bull" and the sneaky buildup of "Been At

It So Long." Even if it's a challenge to get to know any of these tracks

individually, most reward the effort, making sense of what initially sounds

like a frivolous mess.