Toronto indie-rock veterans Broken Social Scene don’t put out a lot of music; they’ve put out five albums in 20 years, and took a seven-year break between albums before 2017’s Hug of Thunder. So today is a good day for fans; the band just released a new song, “Boyfriends,” to mark Valentine’s Day – with an all-GIF video made by gif production company WhatGifs.
The song may not be the message some want to hear on Valentine’s Day. (“They say they’re gonna love you to the end of time / but they’re not, not they’re not … boyfriends.”) The band has created a site where fans can send online cards to their loved ones.
The song is from the band’s EP coming out Friday, Let’s Try the After, Vol 1. The band had previously debuted new songs including “Can’t Find My Heart” and “1972,” from the EP.
In 2017, the band’s “semi-leader” Kevin Drew reflected on why they’ve lasted nearly two decades: “People thought it was not going to work out from an ego perspective, but the reason it has comes down to the relationships,” he told Pitchfork. “The dinners and birthdays and baby showers and weddings have kept coming.“
The band have a series of dates coming up including multi-night stands in Montreal, Los Angeles and Toronto.