Broken Social Scene

About

The artist

Broken Social Scene is a Toronto indie-rock collective founded by Kevin Drew and Brendan Canning in 1999. The project began as a small ambient collaboration and expanded into a flexible ensemble whose participants have included musicians connected to Feist, Metric, Stars, Do Make Say Think, Jason Collett, Apostle of Hustle, and other parts of Toronto's independent music community. Feel Good Lost introduced the project in 2001, while You Forgot It in People brought layered guitars, orchestration, electronic texture, and multiple voices into a widely influential 2002 breakthrough. The band followed with the self-titled Broken Social Scene, Forgiveness Rock Record, Hug of Thunder, EPs, live releases, and archival collections. You Forgot It in People and Broken Social Scene each won the JUNO Award for Alternative Album of the Year. The collective's activity also helped establish Arts & Crafts as a label and Toronto cultural institution. Remember the Humans, released in May 2026, reunited long-standing and newer contributors for the first Broken Social Scene studio album in nearly a decade. Current Arts & Crafts and artist-operated Bandcamp pages identify the group with Toronto, and a May 2026 Canadian Press interview conducted at Brendan Canning's Toronto home documents Drew, Canning, and the band's active return. A 2026 North American tour with Metric and Stars concludes with a Toronto homecoming show. Broken Social Scene remains built around changing participation, but its current record, interviews, label activity, and performance cycle all continue to centre Toronto.