Photo by Nina Corcoran
Back in March, Broken Social Scene debuted a new single called “Halfway Home”, which they subsequently performed live during an appearance on Late Show with Stephen Colbert. The track, which marked the band’s first new recording in seven years, also served as the first taste of a new album due out later in the year. Though an official announcement is still forthcoming, details of the album have now surfaced via The Music.Today.
Entitled Hug of Thunder, the 12-track LP is due out on July 7th. The tracklist boasts several amazing titles, including “Vanity Pail Kids”, “Mouth Guards of the Apocalypse”, and “Stay Happy”. Check out the full tracklist, along with the album’s artwork, below. You can also stream 30-second snippets of each track here.
As previously reported, Broken Social Scene decided to regroup following the Paris terror attacks in 2015, a tragedy that really hit “so close to home,” frontman Kevin Drew explained in an interview late last year. “The whole reason we got back together was after the shootings in Paris. Everyone sort of got on the phone within the small tribe of us and said, I want to play some shows.” He added, “We have to get back out there. We want to.”
In an interview with SiriusXMU back in March, Drew said of the forthcoming album, “We wanted this to be unity, and we wanted this record to be all of us. And that’s what it is. At this time and in the state of the world as it is, the one thing we knew we could do is come back as friends. […] It was important for all of us to come together because it’s the only thing we can politically do at this moment in time…”
Several of the band’s longtime collaborators will be featured on Hug of Thunder, including Feist, Metric’s Emily Haines and James Shaw, and Stars’ Amy Millan and Evan Cranley.
Hug of Thunder Artwork:
Hug of Thunder Tracklist:
01. Sol Luna
02. Halfway Home
03. Protest Song
04. Skyline
05. Stay Happy
06. Vanity Pail Kids
07. Hug of Thunder
08. Towers and Masons
09. Victim Lover
10. Please Take Me With You
11. Gonna Get Better
12. Mouth Guards of the Apocalypse
Below, revisit “Halfway Home”:
