See Broken Social Scene’s New Video Commemorating 2014’s ‘Brutality’
Indie rockers Broken Social Scene have commemorated 2014 as “a year of incredible brutality” with a montage video for “Golden Facelift,” an outtake from the sessions for their 2010 LP Forgiveness Rock Record. The video, premiered by Pitchfork, is a montage of both the innocuous (kittens, Guardians of the Galaxy) and the serious (grand jury protests, deforestation) from the year, including clips of fracking protests, Bill Cosby, Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, graphic eye surgery, Robin Williams, Kim Jong-un, topless abortion protesters and more. In contrast to the overwhelming battery of imagery, the band plays mostly serene indie rock with tightly textured guitar and lyrics about the song’ s titular surgery.
“It is a song we as a band all felt strongly about lyrically and musically and we wanted to give it a proper unveiling when the time was right,” the group said in a statement. “We feel that chance is now as this year draws to a close. 2014 has not been without its beauty, but…all of humanity has a great deal to answer for. As songwriters and creative artists we want the world to know Broken Social Scene’s aim is to be a voice that will champion underdogs and the idea of goodness on this planet upon which we all take up valuable space.”
The track appears on a compilation called Broadsheet Music: A Year in Review, which also features songs by Fucked Up, Broken Social Scene’s Brendan Canning, Reuben and the Dark and others. The idea for the record was to write music about the events that took place in 2014. The comp is available to stream in full below or download for free via SoundCloud.
Broken Social Scene last performed together at this year’s Field Trip festival in Toronto. Their only gigs prior to that were a performance at Field Trip in 2013 and an appearance on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, where they played “Almost Crimes,” the same year.