CD OF THE WEEK

BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE Broken Social Scene Arts & Crafts/City Slang *****

Do you have room in your hearts for yet another delightful plastic disc from Canada? Like the music produced of late by Wolf Parade, Stars, Feist, Arcade Fire, Bell Orchestre, Death from Above 1979, Metric and many others, this spectacular throw of the dice from Toronto's Broken Social Scene is another reason to be cheerful about the state of Canuck music in the early days of the 21st century. If BSS's You Forgot It in People debut pulled in the indie masses with its shambling, compelling drama, the resounding flair of the new album may well be another elevation point for the outfit. Listen to Superconnected, for instance, and marvel at how BSS are not afraid to embrace the big music and turn a superlative indie rattle into a glorious, radio-friendly anthem.

Throwbacks to the golden age of indie-rock abound - to be expected, perhaps, when there's a track titled Ibi Dreams of Pavement staring back at you. But BSS's appeal lies in how they retune such notions into crisp, timeless sounds and melodies. You can hear this at work on Major Label Debut and especially It's All Gonna Break, the jangling, mesmeric juggernaut that closes the album. But such handiwork is also part of the appeal that has you returning to Hotel or Windsurfing Nation over and over again. In truth, there are few other albums you'll encounter which will sound quite this ecstatic.www.arts-crafts.ca

Jim Carroll