When Broken Social Scene reunited with producer David Newfeld for Remember the Humans, the message was clear: the band wanted to return to the version of themselves that produced You Forgot It in People and Broken Social Scene, their two most celebrated albums. Newfeld was there for both. He understood the specific alchemy of the collective — how to give space to that many musicians without losing coherence, how to make a large ensemble sound intimate.
Nine years is the gap between Hug of Thunder (2017) and Remember the Humans (2026). In that time, BSS released EP collections, a rarities comp, and little else. The extended silence wasn't unusual for a band with this many members who all have their own projects — Kevin Drew and Brendan Canning have solo records, Emily Haines fronts Metric, Feist makes Feist albums — but it created the particular kind of anticipation that BSS generates: the feeling that something is percolating, slowly, in the background of more visible careers.
Lead single 'Not Around Anymore' is out and it's exactly what you'd hope for: a sprawling, layered piece of indie rock that sounds like a large group of talented people playing together in a room. The guitars and horns and voices are all present, the production is warm and somewhat dense without being muddy. It sounds like Broken Social Scene.
The album title, Remember the Humans, has the quality of a gentle command. In the age of AI and algorithmic culture, there's something both obvious and urgent about it. Whether the album is actually about that, or whether the title is more personal and less polemical, will be revealed May 8.
The band tours with Metric and Stars on the All the Feelings Tour from June through August. Metric's own new album Romanticize the Dive is out April 24. This is shaping up to be a very good summer for Canadian indie rock. Remember that.