Song(s) of the Day # 1,266 Broken Social Scene

'With 15 members and a rickety yet ambitious sound, Broken Social Scene have the feel of a Merry Prankster- style hippie cult, and their shared values and sense of community prove bracing in an age of Trumpian individualism.'  The Guardian 07/0717

A breath of fresh air in times that need them. The first Broken Social Scene album for seven years, entitled Hug of Thunder is just out, and on first listen it's a winner of new age hippy-ish positivity; the sound of old friends re-grouping, like some post-millennium equivalent of The Big Chill coming back together in an effort to re-remember exactly what makes life worth living while all about us the forces of corporate oppression are crowding in, seemingly intent on blocking out all oxygen. This is half meant tongue in cheek but these do inescapably feel like bleak times and this record seems a much welcomed crack in eternally grey clouds and the sun peeking through at last. As with this band generally, Hug of Thunder is slightly hit and miss, almost inevitable given that they are such a vast and apparently democratic collective but my first impression of the album is highly favourable.