Broken Social Scene's Canning Shows His 'Rawside'

Broken Social Scene co-frontman Brendan Canning has been all quiet on the Canadian front as of late, but the singer-songwriter -- whose BSS collective of musicians includes Kevin Drew, Feist, Emily Haines from Metric and Stars' Amy Millan -- is about to be both visually and auditorially in your face with his upcoming album, 'Something for All of Us.'

While recording the effort, due July 22, Canning had some of the process captured on film by respected indie filmmaker Bruce MacDonald ('Hard Core Logo,' 'Highway 61'). The footage was being shot for a new Independent Film Channel series entitled 'The Rawside of...,' which is an eight-part documentary series that follows Canadian musicians through public and private parts of their lives. Canning admits that the process was a combination of honesty and surreality.

"Bruce and his crew get the all-access pass into the finishing of my record and all the other things going on and around in my life," he tells Spinner. "It's a small window into my life and it feels very natural, as much as anything can feel natural when there are cameras all around you. Hopefully the soccer footage makes the cut."

According to Canning, although normally more interested in keeping his private life private, his respect for MacDonald's work is what made the whole process possible. "Bruce and I have been friends for a long time now," he says. "We have mutual admiration and respect for each other and each other's family. I would not give just anyone such freedom to invade my life. Bruce has a very unusual sense of humor and depicts life with all its mistakes, vividness and brutal truth. He is not -- as far as I can tell -- interested in making any sort of everyday film that follows 'normal' guidelines. He is open and honest in his approach and that is what attracts me to his films."

Meanwhile, 'Something for All of Us...' expectedly has -- much like any Broken Social disc -- an abundance of respected musicians contributing to the final product, including the Stills' Liam O'Neil, members of Stars, Land of Talk's Liz Powell and, of course, his BSS posse. As for how he delineates whether a song he writes qualifies as either a BSS track or a solo tune, Canning says it isn't a science, just simple geography. "Wherever I am and who happens to be there will usually decide what happens to any tune I work on."

Download 'Hit the Wall' from 'Something for All of Us...'