Broken Social Scene's founder, songwriter, and front man Kevin Drew will be releasing his newest solo album, Darlings, on March 18th, 2014, on Arts & Crafts.
Darlings shows Drew growing from his role in indie vanguard Broken Social Scene to create a breakthrough statement of personal artistry. Darlings is also his first solo album that is truly, to put it bluntly, solo. If Drew's 2007 effort Spirit If... was his inaugural step beyond the decade-long shadow of his former band, Darlings spotlights Drew with seven years more experience and maturity. Darlings reveals a more focused and refined sound; more honest, revelatory songwriting, with Drew's craft concentrated on lyrical and emotional connections, less so than guitar pedals and studio jams.
Spirit If... is the first in a series of "Broken Social Scene Presents" albums. This solo effort from Kevin Drew unfolds like an emotional comic book. Drew's songwriting addresses all his favourite topics: fucking, fighting, fearing and hope. Both Drew and Brendan Canning, the two co-founders of Broken Social Scene, decided to approach making records as solo projects. In the process, the social scene community participated, playing key supporting roles, returning to the creative process that was the initial spark for BSS and giving birth to this new series.
"From the enormous power of the opening "Farewell to the Pressure Kids"... to the stripped-down track, "When it Begins,"... Spirit If... is meant to be listened to in its gorgeous entirety." - Under the Radar
'Aging', the third solo album from Broken Social Scene’s Kevin Drew, was the inevitable title of his meditative new record – because he was living everything that comes with it. Influenced by the recent passing of friends and mentors, as well as the declining health of close family, 'Aging' brings together songs written over a decade marked by the signifiers of midlife – love, loss, and illness – all while wrestling with the hard truths of aging.
The album’s 8-song collection of minimalist piano ballads is darker and more contemplative than anything Drew has released before. Across the 33-minutes can be found the spirit of Drew classics like “Lover’s Spit” and “Sweetest Kill,” but with a sense of sorrow rarely heard on previous material. The writer of some of indie rock’s most life-affirming and celebratory anthems has become world sick.
The themes that have preoccupied much of Drew’s two-decades-long career are still present – the power of love, resisting apathy, the pursuit of connection – but the subject matter once exclaimed with the youthful fervour of a wide-eyed idealist now carries the weight of someone trying to make sense of the world in the throes of grief.
