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Thursday, 09 September 2010 08:48

Written by Scott Mervis

Broken Social Scene at the Byham.

Photo by Hugh Twyman

That doesn't describe Broken Social Scene — not when the tight rhythm section of bassist Charles Spearin and drummer Justin Peroff is driving the band and the three- to four-guitar attack is that precise. Even the constant switching around of instruments didn't trip up BSS Wednesday night as it made the jump up from Mr. Small's to the Byham.

In contrast to the somewhat stiff shows we see sometimes in that theater, the crowd was quickly up on its feet and filling the aisles as the Toronto band went heavy on "Forgiveness Rock Record," a new album every bit as strong as the two that came before it. One of the new standouts was "Forced to Love," which sounded like Thurston Moore tossed them a stray guitar riff which they paired with flute and some echoey yelps from frontman Kevin Drew.

BSS has a sonic range that allows them to thunder into the guitar squalls of Sonic Youth one moment, lay down a jazzy groove a la Steely Dan the next and then go into the pretty, ambient dreamscapes when Lisa Lobsinger takes the mike, as she did for "All to All." She's one of four singers, actually, as Andrew Whiteman took over for "Fire Eye'd Boy" and "Art House Director" and the scruffy Brendan Canning did his mumbled vocal on "Stars and Sons."

If there's any downside to all that range it's that it might be hard to identify a Broken Social Scene song if it came on the radio, but, hey, there are worse problems. The reason critics and fans love this band are the shoe-gazing textures they create on songs like "Cause=Time" and the big orchestral finale of "Meet Me in the Basement." Lobsinger, looking like a disheveled '60s hipster in a collapsed beehive and house dress, finished the show with a gorgeous reading of "Anthems for a 17-Year-Old Girl"that sent the crowd away in a semi-hypnotic state.

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