Like a broken record
Canadians Broken Social Scene arrive to a blast of brass instruments before moving into their first number. The opning song starts off quite lo-fi with fragile harmonies and although it picks up a little towards the end it never really gets going.
The brass parts compliment the tunes well but it's all rather nice and inoffensive. The second track does nothing to buck this trend and despite being a tight band with good arrangements there's nothing exciting about them whatsoever. Visually they don't do a lot (although there are plenty of them) and the whole performance is rather dull.
To their credit they get a good audience reaction and there are moments where the guitars build up and they get a good noise going but it's invariably towards the end of the songs and finishes as quickly as it arrives. As a band they work well together but they're just not pushing my buttons today, even the couple of up beat numbers they throw in lack a really great tune.
When the female vocalist takes the lead things do improve a touch and maybe if she sang all the songs it would give them a greater overall effect? I just get the feeling that they need something extra to lift them to the next level and they never quite seem to find it. They do pick it up for the finale though and manage a rousing crescendo of guitars, strings and brass combined but it's too litle too late.