New Music - Kevin Drew

Yesterday’s Feist post led me over to her (I think) boyfriend and co-Broken Social Scene-ster Kevin Drew’s myspace. I was just looking around at the pictures and fancy blinking lights and such when I noticed a track streaming called “Love 5”. I didn’t remember it from his very solid 2007 album, Spirit If. After one listen I realized I was listening to either a brand new song or, very possibly, an unreleased gem. Further exploration led me to the Arts & Crafts merch page where I found the song is the b-side to the “Backed Out On The…” single. You remember, it’s the song with the J Mascis accompanied video that looks like everyone was having a blast filming.

“Love 5” is well worth seeking out, as it may just be better than anything from the actual album. It starts out as a gentle, almost lo-fi sounding acoustic ballad - full of coughing, background noises, and Drew’s hushed, echoed vocals. He’s reminding us, in very Drew-like fashion, of when “your best friend was your skin”. Piano, gentle noise effects, and drums enter the scene, helping to spotlight the melody and give the song a bit of an identifiable structure. Everything’s very calm and pretty until the 2 ½ minute mark. It’s then that, after Drew sighs out “the things I want, we’ll destroy”, a wall of sonic noise explodes almost out of nowhere and carries the song to a powerful, cinematic ending. “When It Begins” is a pleasant, if somewhat slight, way to end Spirit If, but it seems to me that songs like this were designed specifically to bring an album home in dramatic fashion, not toil in semi-obscurity as a damn myspace stream.

Stream :: Love 5
(from Backed Out On The…7”. Buy here)
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MP3 :: Backed Out On The….
(from Broken Social Scene Presents Kevin Drew - Spirit If. Buy here)
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