On Spirit If. . .—rife with sexual themes, opaque lyrics, and scruffy romanticism— Kevin Drew, the cofounder of Broken Social Scene and Arts & Crafts Records, lets it all hang out. Supported by numerous BSS members (including former Scene-ster Feist) and featuring cameos by members of Pavement, Stars, Metric, and Dinosaur Jr., Spirit is a smorgasbord of musical delights and emotional outpourings. Kicking off with a guitar cacophony that fades into a haze of heavy breathing and soothing, twilight sounds on “Farewell to the Pressure Kids,” and closing with the acoustic “When It Begins” (a bittersweet lament about endings), the tracks in between show a wide range of sonic expression. One standout, “Backed out on the . . .,” is a near-perfect tribute to the heyday of groups like Dinosaur Jr., with that band’s J Mascis and Drew bashing out head-slamming, mid-‘80s guitar riffs with delirious abandon; you almost forget what decade it is.
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