Brendan Canning – Something for All Of Us

Something For All Of Us – Brendan Canning

by Aidan Roberts

There is an air of promise with the title alone in the second cab off the ‘Broken Social Scene Presents…’ rank of solo records from that Canadian talent club. Like Fiest and Kevin Drew before him, the refreshingly nerdy Brendan Canning explores his musical ideas to the full and presents yet another side of BSS, giving us a collection of songs with a real sense of fun; layer upon layer of guitar noise and swirling synthesisers envelop, but never cloud, the very pertinent melodies. Single Hit The Wall is elegiac, almost distressing in its openness; ‘We used to have it all, now it’s all gone.’ Throughout we’re treated to some familiar sounds – warm trumpet stabs, breakneck drumming from Justin Peroff, and the usual assembly of ecstatic, chaotic harmonies, this time with Canning’s own hushed warble leading the team with his affecting song-craft. From the dark disco fun of Love Is New to the melancholic sleeper Take Care, Look Up, there is indeed something here for all of us.

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