Let's Try the After, Vol. 1

Album review

Returning in fine form after a seven-year break, 2017's aptly named Hug of Thunder delivered a bountiful 12-track set that was as comforting as it was spilling over with intent. Sanguine, yet mindful of the myriad political and cultural schisms that had cropped up during their absence, Broken Social Scene sounded re-energized. Let's Try the After, Vol. 1 feels ancillary in relation to Hug of Thunder, though it never comes off as anodyne. Opening with the dreamy and brief "The Sweet Sea," the five-song EP revs its post-rock engines on the spirited instrumental "Remember Me Young" -- Ariel Engle provides some captivating vocalizing -- before hitting its stride on the taut, Kevin Drew-led single "Boyfriends." Engle gets her turn to shine on the similarly pop-forward "1972" before passing the mike to Andrew Whiteman, whose homespun croon helps ground the sumptuous, though meandering closer "All I Want." Less immediate than its predecessor, Let's Try the After still manages to engage the listener with its innovative instrumentation and serpentine melodies, and as a bite-sized sampler of where the band is headed, it more than suffices.

© James Christopher Monger /TiVo