One thing's for sure:  this album has no shortage of different textures.  The album starts off dramatically with a metallic wash of guitars and crashing drums on "Farewell to the Pressure Kids".  The next track, "TBTF", is a slinking acoustic groove with an interesting drum sound sprinkled by bizarre, chiming interludes.  "Broke Me Up" has an amazingly delicate, countrified jazz sound.  "Lucky Ones" smashes acoustic & electric guitars into a full-blown, danceable sing-along that's as smooth as anything to come out of the collective yet.  Meanwhile, "Frightening Lives" has an interesting folk-industrial sound thanks to haunting electric guitar, built-in static, and synthetic drumbeat.  Variation like this makes Spirit If... a truly diverse album.  

While the outer edges of Broken Social Scene are making their own waves, the core is part of a series of albums called "Broken Social Scene Presents:".  Next year, Brendan Canning and Justin Peroff will release similar "solo" records.  But this year alone, BSS members have released material as Apostle of Hustle, Feist, Stars, and Metric (re-issue), and all were excellent in their own right.  Spirit If..., however, features pretty much every Scenester at some point, which makes it one big group effort of a solo album, and as the first in the series of BSS solo orgies, it's a juicy hint of things to come. 

MP3 Stream: "Broke Me Up"

-Chris Fore
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