Broken Social Scene Presents: Kevin Drew Spirit If... by: Joseph Coscarelli Mon:10-Sep-07 Label: Arts & Crafts/Shiny Year: 2007 WB rating 81 out of 100

On the final track of Spirit If..., paradoxically titled 'When It Begins', Kevin Drew delicately sings a belated advisory, warning that "it's gonna be really hard when we get to the end." In terms of placement, the message is all but useless – you're an hour in at this point – but the line may have worked better as a stroke of revelatory self-awareness from an artist occasionally charged with taking himself too seriously. Rather than a moment about not wanting to say goodbye, he might've warned us about the taxing journey that is his first solo outing. A sprawling collection of 14 tracks, nearly all hovering above the four-minute mark with two surpassing six, it was kind of hard to get to the end.  

While Drew's back catalog with Broken Social Scene (who "present" this current effort) reaches similar lengths, his band's latest self-titled full length and their masterpiece You Forgot It In People pass swiftly, swelling into peaks and falling into valleys as a collection of movements, tight like puzzle pieces. Spirit If... is a more laborious work, more subdued and less focused, but not lacking similarly gorgeous moments. The question then, is whether pushing through to the end will fulfill or frustrate. For a fan of Broken Social Scene or the Arts & Crafts community, it is truly a labor of love.  

And it is no surprise that the record works best when it sticks by the group's primary sonic trademarks. Stacked, dense production suits Drew even on more tender numbers where he is often buried in the mix and distorted, simultaneously whispering and yelling on separate overdubs. Electronic blips, drum brushes and string arrangements come and go with a nostalgic sense of familiarity, and though Kevin Drew and Brendan Canning originally adopted the Broken Social Scene moniker as a largely electronic duo on Feel Good Lost, the mammoth collective that has become synonymous with the name is well represented on the finest moments of Spirit If...  

Group vocals thicken 'When It Begins' and 'Back Out On The...', the latter of which is brightened by a searing J. Mascis guitar, lead while 'Safety Bricks' and 'Lucky Ones' are both gentle acoustic numbers that won't sound foreign to fans of fellow Arts & Craft crew American Analog Set (who's Andrew Kenny is on tour with Drew) or Broken Social Scene obsessives that have heard the band perform XM or NPR radio sessions. In a highlight, angelic female vocals from Emily Haines, Feist and Stars' Amy Millan drive 'Aging Faces / Losing Places', serving to question the purity of Spirit If... as a true solo release. The album's subject matter, though, is quintessential Kevin Drew – the surest reminder that he had full reign over the project. Rest assured, Drew is as cryptic as ever and still wants to say "fuck" to the kids, the cause and the beautiful girl.   

The album's slow burn goes dimmest in its middle section, as the back to back 'Gang Bang Suicide' and 'Frightening Lives' each exceed six minutes, a drawn-out dreamworld mope sliding into the sensual shuffle of the latter's almost-rapped verses. It is, however, a good example of Spirit If...’s remarkable use of juxtaposition, with lullabies preceding fuzzed-out anthems and love songs following rebellious indictments. Sequencing saves the album from the depths of aimlessness, resuscitating you as a listener on the edge of being smothered or lulling you before you're worked into too vicious of a frenzy. As a listener, passivity is key; let the waves pass over and encompass you, leaving you awash and exhausted but rewarding your patience, knowing full well that the voyage was worthwhile in its conclusion, lending itself, or even demanding repeated visits.