Spirit If...
by Kevin Drew

Album details

US: 18 September 2007 on Arts & Crafts
UK: 17 September 2007 on Arts & Crafts

The first of a planned series of "Broken Social Scene Presents…" discs, this "solo" album for one of the founders of that Canadian collective finds Drew in fact joined by many of his fellow BSSers. In addition to the likes of Amy Millan and Emily Haines, the guest roster includes J Mascis, Scott Kannberg (Pavement), Andrew Kenny (The American Analog Set), and Tom Cochrane.

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The critical consensus

The album was inevitably going to attract Broken Social Scene comparisons anyway, but putting the name of that band on the album cover just cements it. In fact, other than the fact that Drew handles all the vocals, there is little reason to think that it isn’t another BSS album in all but name. So let’s skip the many ways in which it is like a BSS album and focus on the differences. All Music Guide says that one such difference between Drew solo and Drew in BSS is that the former "is able to play a little more with sparseness." Stylus agrees that it might be more "stripped and slivered" than BSS, while Treble notes that it is "more focused on Drew’s quieter, more emotional songwriting" and Uncut finds that "it becomes a messier, less wholesome affair." And Exclaim! feels that the vibe is actually closer to that of Drew’s other band, KC Accidental, with Spirit’s songs "more simply structured and less raucous in their experimentation" than typical BSS fare.

Okay, so that’s about it for the differences–getting back to those similarities, Lost At Sea finds that on this album, "It as if Drew has sandblasted the wall-of-sound opulence of Broken Social Scene and stripped it down to its raw elements, getting it closer to the core that made You Forgot it in People such an epic tour de force." The Stranger decides that solo Drew "has that same impenetrable but inviting depth" as BSS. And Now calls it, unsurprisingly, "a more concentrated version of Drew’s BSS vision."

Many reviewers believe, as the BBC does, that, "The album is not immediate, it’s a grower." (The same, of course, could be said for the last Broken Social Scene album.) At any rate, the album has certainly grown on Drowned In Sound quite quickly; they praise Kevin Drew’s "genius" arrangements and call Spirit If a "pop masterpiece," while Lost At Sea doesn’t stop there, calling it "one for the ages." Gigwise, also a fan, calls it "a great album with a deep soul and unique intelligence." Rolling Stone is a tad less enthused, deeming the album "beautiful, if not always transfixing," and Stereogum, admittedly nitpicking, finds it "way too long," a thought which Stylus seconds. And Urb doesn’t like Spirit If, deeming it unlikeable: "What came across as charmingly quirky on BSS’s debut album comes across as indulgent on Spirit If…"

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, Pitchfork

Review roundup

Tracklisting and media

1. Farewell To the Pressure Kids
2. TBTF
   
3. F–ked Up Kid
4. Safety Bricks
5. Lucky Ones
6. Broke Me Up
7. Gang Bang Suicide
8. Frightening Lives
9. Underneath the Skin
10. Big Love
11. Backed Out On the…
    
    
12. Aging Faces/Losing Places
13. Bodhi Sappy Weekend
14. When It Begins

Also on the web

• Kevin Drew @ Arts & Crafts
• Kevin Drew @ MySpace