Broken Social Scene release their new album Remember the Humans via City Slang /Arts and Crafts. Marking their first new studio album in nearly a decade, the LP reunites the Toronto collective with producer David Newfeld, who helmed their breakthrough You Forgot It in People (2002) and self-titled 2005 album. Across the 12 tracks the arrangements are dense and enveloping - a lattice of horns, guitars, voices, and electronics - yet melody always remains sovereign, refusing to be swallowed by the sheer sound. When the music drifts towards abstraction, a grounding bass line arrives to anchor the listener, reminding us always that there are human hands on the controls and that, however artful, this is still rock and roll. As ever, Broken Social Scene operates less as a band than as a community and songs evolve by ceding control to whoever can best carry them forward in the moment. Drew may be the designated driver, but collaborators on Remember the Humans, including Hannah Georgas, Lisa Lobsinger, and Feist, step into the foreground throughout the record, shaping songs with a sense of collective authorship that has always defined the group’s ethos.
