Spirit If... is the first in a series of "Broken Social Scene Presents" albums. This solo effort from Kevin Drew unfolds like an emotional comic book. Drew's songwriting addresses all his favourite topics: fucking, fighting, fearing and hope. Both Drew and Brendan Canning, the two co-founders of Broken Social Scene, decided to approach making records as solo projects. In the process, the social scene community participated, playing key supporting roles, returning to the creative process that was the initial spark for BSS and giving birth to this new series.
Broken Social Scene Presents: Kevin Drew
Spirit If...
[Arts & Crafts; 2007]
Rating: 8.2
"Broken Social Scene Presents: Kevin Drew". The phrasing is clunky and opportunistic, with BSS co-founder and leader Drew cashing in on a beloved brand while also putting his name on the album cover in big letters. But, as exhaustive as it may seem, it's accurate. With its shaggy grace, love-is-life proclamations, and lengthy guest list (23 people, mostly BSS regulars, play or sing on the record), Spirit If… could pass for a relatively low-key follow-up to 2005's blown-out Broken Social Scene. But with Drew taking sole songwriting credit for half of the album's toned-down tracks and covering lead vocal duties on nearly every song, there's also a strong solo vibe. So, in essence, we get Kevin Drew's break-up record, as played by Broken Social Scene; it's a savvy compromise only a collective as familial as BSS could pull off.
While the popularity of Broken Social Scene skyrocketed over the past four years, Drew remained something of an unknown thanks to the group's all-for-one nature and its more magazine-friendly female talents, Leslie Feist and Metric's Emily Haines. But to know Spirit If… is to know Kevin Drew: One-time teenage burn-out, current 31-year-old master of scruff, and lifelong romantic. He hugs audience members during shows, and once described his band's objective to the New York Times Magazine with all the quixotic wonder of a wide-eyed Bono: "We want to affect audiences' hearts and minds with honesty." He's not afraid to include "the kiss in Winnipeg" and "the man who taught me love is free" in his album's laundry list of thank you's. He's a modern hippie, though instead of growing up listening to the Grateful Dead and the Doors, Drew worshiped idols that fall squarely within the classic-rock-subverting indie canon: Sonic Youth, Pavement, and Dinosaur Jr. Consequently, Spirit If… offers jams that don't really jam, acoustic ballads about fights and lies, and lushly orchestrated songs that come together effortlessly while cracking up hopelessly.
Toying with the idea of stops and starts, the record begins with a send-off and ends with a beginning. Alarm-clock opener "Farewell to the Pressure Kids" is a red herring: At first, its blasting intro (stuffed with vibes, avalanche drum fills, stacked guitars, and unintelligible vocals), seems to pick up right where Broken Social Scene's epic closer "It's All Gonna Break" left off. But, after two minutes of organized chaos, the song-- a cryptic exorcism decrying those who "love to hate"-- settles into a homely, quiet groove more indicative of the record's unplugged ambiance. It's the sound of Drew deflating his own bombast in favor of a style that's more personal and direct.
The singer once said 2002's You Forgot It In People "was made with hope" while Broken Social Scene "was made with fear." Spirit If… was seemingly made with pained desperation. On the album, when Drew isn't pining over a "fucked up kid" amidst images of violence and death, he's confessing his sins while lamenting someone who's "too beautiful to fuck." His words can be frustratingly obtuse: "Cats and Christ put you in a tiny box that's filled with all victims," goes one especially head-scratching line. But Drew's random imagery is often translated through straightforward hooks that wisely cut through the dense murk. So while the enlightenment-themed stand-out "Bodhi Sappy Weekend" includes boggling lyrics like, "With our clothes on fire/ I guess we both can wait/ I built an ark for sure," the pleading refrain ("please don't scratch me out") is crushing in its bluntness as it ties the tune together.
The lucidity of Drew's musical influences also lend Spirit If… an understood universality (within indie rock circles, at least): Much of the album could double as an early 90s our-band-could-be-your-life cassette mix. But there's a key difference to, say, Spirit If...'s Dinosaur Jr. tribute "Backed Out on the…" compared to every other Dino-aping rip-off out there: Drew actually recruited J Mascis to spew scalding distortion all over the track. The same first-hand method is employed on the album's only other out-and-out rocker, "Lucky Ones", which boasts some twisting Spiral Stairs-style guitar work from (yep) Spiral Stairs. The indie-star guests are just another example of Drew making the anything-goes BSS collective philosophy work for him-- and a great way to beat name-that-influence critics at their own game.
"The whole idea of starting or finishing something is one of the scariest things in the world to me," Drew told Pitchfork in 2005. Recorded in a hotel room in Norway, the country-style ditty "When It Begins" is a fitting, clear-headed capper to the album that finds Drew facing his fears head-on. "It's gonna be really hard when we get to the end/ Well, you love the start but really it's just to begin," he sings, accompanied by a little strumming and just a few singing Scene-sters. The song's circlular logic is an apt summation of it all-- the album, relationships, bands, tours, etc.-- at once almost naively common and, within the context of the record, disarmingly personal. Then there's the tattooed-heart kicker: "But don't forget what you felt." Confounding yet emotionally bare, derivative yet singular, profane yet child-like, solo yet not so solo, Kevin Drew doesn't shy away from his contradictions on Spirit If…. He revels in them.
-Ryan Dombal, September 17, 2007
http://www.myspace.com/kevindrewspiritif
http://www.arts-crafts.ca/kevindrew/
Review by Marisa Brown
Although Spirit If... is officially a Kevin Drew release, based on the number of Broken Social Scene members, associates, and friends who appear on it, the fact that the song "TBTF" appears on BSS's MySpace site, and that the actual album cover itself reads "Broken Social Scene Presents: Kevin Drew," it's pretty easy to believe the lead singer and co-founder is just acting as a front for the entire band. Not that anyone in the Toronto-based collective has ever shunned the idea of collaborations: even on more traditional "solo" work, there's always been the idea that guest artists, those who make up the group, can bring immeasurable advantages with their own personal expertise and ideas. So such is the attitude behind Spirit If..., an album that, while it certainly doesn't break from the subtly ornate, orchestral lushness that Broken Social Scene does so well, is able to play a little more with sparseness, with the meaning behind rests and pauses. "Broke Me Up" has a nice indie country feel, complete with slide guitar and a piano that does more than simply add depth and layers to the background, but actually takes something that resembles a solo, as Drew sings in a sad whisper. The vocals, too, are mixed at a level that allows comprehension, even if the words themselves aren't always understood. But Drew is more about overall effect and atmosphere than the significance found in individual songs and phrases -- which excuses the fact that a lot of things he says don't make a lot of sense -- and also means that Spirit If... is the kind of album that takes some time to set in, whose melodies and acoustic guitar backgrounds and occasional burst of anger need the luxury of distance and reflection to truly find their place. This doesn't mean that there aren't some great moments here -- the dark, pulsating Greg Dulli-inspired "Frightening Lives," the wonderful chamber pop of "Bodhi Sappy Weekend," which features the background vocal talents of Feist -- but the record is focused more on the future, on creating an impression, than on immediate satisfaction, giving it an appeal that only strengthens as time goes on, and making Spirit If... another impressive, affective release in the ever-growing Broken Social Scene catalog.
Reviewed by Katy Gaspar on 31/07/2007
'Gang Bang Suicide'; 'Frightening Lives'…no, not title ideas for Jodi Marsh’s latest show, but some of the awesome track names from Spirit If, the immense album from Brocken Social Scene’s Kevin Drew. The boy from the group that grows every day presents an album of style and creativity that’ll have you reaching for the tissues one minute and the happy pills the next. Broken Social Scene is fast becoming a bit of a musical cult. What started out as two instrumentalists, Kevin Drew and Brendan Canning, the group has swelled to accommodate 11 musicians from various genres and numerous willing contributors. After releasing 3 albums, various members of the group have decided to release solo offerings which will include influences and involvement from the other members. The first up is 'Spirit If' from Kevin Drew.
This album has more confidence than a group of 12-year-old school kids at the back of a bus. Drew knows exactly what he’s doing, and relishes the fact that not everyone will understand his temperamental edge. Self-assurance like this only comes out of creative intelligence, making it unlikely for many to question whether he’s doing something right and special. Drew’s vocals waver from casual to intense; he seems to have chosen which songs hit him the hardest and narrates this to the listener with a cutting, yet vulnerable tone. At times disjointed from the music, he stubbornly pulls away from the obvious course of the song. To some this may jar, but to others will do to indie rock what Baz Luhrmann did for Shakespeare. Despite this melodic rebellion, his voice is pleasingly understated, textured yet delicate.
The album is like a spectrum. Some songs reach indie-funk heights, peaking with 'Farewell To The Pressure Kids'. This kaleidoscopic noise infusion is awash with swirling vocals and a gripping rhythm that leaves both singer and listener spent and breathless. Others drag you back down into soulful emo, like 'TBTF', which stands for Too Beautiful To Fuck. The rhythm is the one constant that can be relied on never to confuse or stand for question. Its strength gives the album its unique confidence. It’s the backbone to some songs that run the risk of getting lost in their own innovation.
The input of 11 different musicians couldn’t fail to impact on one album, and the result is an orchestra of intense sound and rhythm. A great album with a deep soul and unique intelligence.
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