ALBUM REVIEW: Broken Social Scene – Remember The Humans

City Slang

Released: 08.05.26

Image by Jordan Allen

There’s something implicitly celebratory about the tone of the new Broken Social Scene record, despite the dourness of the subject matter in parts. Though an awareness of one’s mortality is centre stage here, it’s often reframed into something liberating; take the mantra-like meditations on Not Around Anymore as a case in point. On Remember The Humans, the band’s first record since 2017’s Hug of Thunder, the whole gang are back together including, Lisa Lobsinger, Hannah Georgas and Leslie Feist, and they sound like the best jam band in the world. Buoyed by intricate, interwoven chamber pop instrumentation, there are threads of optimism and stoicism running throughout the record, and a tender earthiness keeping everything grounded.

The Call sounds like a lost Arthur Russell recording, drenched in harmony. There’s a Young Marble Giants-y starkness to This Briefest Kiss, and fluttering grandiosity to Hey Amanda, carrying a sweet, romantic naivety, asking Amanda why she went at cut her hair. Kevin Drew has spoken about this record coming out of the conditions of grief, and art being a prevailing condition to steer him back, and on Remember The Humans Broken Social Scene have made a record that sounds vital, cathartic and celebratory.