If you're one of the few remaining album loyalists, consider Kevin Drew's Spirit If. your most dangerous tempation. Not only does the album open with the utter dissonance of "Farewell to the Pressure Kids," but it offers an erratic journey throughout. From folk-rock "Broke Me Up" to baroque-pop "Safety Bricks," Spirit If. covers a dizzying array of genres.
Calling this a solo album is somewhat misleading - Spirit If. is technically the first in a series of albums written by members of Broken Social Scene, but performed by the whole band. Drew is a principal songwriter for the Toronto collective, so it's not entirely surprising that the album sounds like much of the group's past work. Unfortunately, it also shares the band's scatterbrained sound. Here again, the band struggles to find some consistency. You can chalk it up to the group's 19 musical egos (many, like Feist and Amy Millan of Stars, pursuing careers of their own), but as this album makes clear, Drew has to take some of the blame.
Spirit If. is strewn with catchy, poppy tracks (especially single "TBTF") reminiscent of Belle and Sebastian and Yo La Tengo. But it doesn't amount to much more than that - an unremarkable album with its share of highlights. But even the broken social scene of listeners, though, can come together for Drew's ambitious, if not quite unique, offerings.
