Broken Social Scene presents Kevin Drew
Spirit If...
Shiny / Arts And Crafts


Imagine you are at home and you hear a knock on your door. You are greeted by a courier stating that "I've got a delivery for some indie kids". Inside the quirky packaging that is 'Spirit If...' is exactly what you'd hope to find, the kooky indie stylings of Kevin Drew and his Broken Social Scene (BSS) counterparts; a bizarre mix of kinds of guitars, dreamy keys, random drums, crazy lyrics, and strange noises.

Amidst the numerous guest artists (Feist, Stars, Do Make Say Think), the heart and soul that draws it all together is Drew's laissez faire vocals and the general slacker rock feel. Lucky Ones is a prime illustration of this vibe, the complex and large BSS sound eventually giving way to Spiral Stairs' (Pavement) guitaring. J Mascis' (Dinosaur Jr) use of his axe is less subtle and so unsurprisingly he steals the show on Backed Out On The ... However, it is Drew's likeable lo-fi works like TBTF and the swagger of Safety Bricks that are the album's bread and butter sound. Soulful moments like Broke Me Up (which surely must have begun life as a late night bluesy jam) and Gang Bang Suicide indicate Drew's desire to take most songs and develop a growing sense of instrumentation in them.

The greatest weakness of 'Spirit If...' is that amidst all the wealth of talent Drew draws from, unfortunately he has downplayed his responsibility as chief editor. Instead, Drew seems to try and include every idea that the BSS come up with and this means some good indie pop songs get dragged down into overly long jam sessions.

Scott Berry