Broken Social Scene Borrow From Land of Talk

Broken Social Scene is sort of like the Wu Tang Clan of indie rock. The Canadian super-group has built a strong following while helping to launch a number of successful solo projects such as Feist, Kevin Drew and Stars. So it makes sense that when the band needed a new female vocalist to accompany them on tour they looked to Montreal native and Land of Talk frontwoman Elizabeth Powell.

"Brendan [Canning] has always kept tabs on me," Powell says of the Broken Social Scene's founding member. "Last year he asked me to do a Patti Smith cover for a Canadian film called 'The Tracey Fragments,' starring Ellen Page. One thing led to another and we ended up recording two extra songs, and then I sang on two songs for his solo album."

After Powell appeared on Canning's solo record, 'Something for Us All,' Land of Talk was asked to join Broken Social Scene on tour. Adding to the excitement, Powell would fill in on vocals and guitar with BSS, something she has referred to as "a dream come true." "The last time I said that in an interview a lot of people thought I was being facetious, but I wasn't," she explains.

Of course, these days Powell has a lot to be excited about. Her debut LP with Land of Talk, 'Some are Lakes' has just been released. And if the album is a bit smoother and mellow than her previous work, it might be due to the significant influence of Bon Iver's Justin Vernon. "He's a big talented Norwegian ball of passion and pain, and I will be forever grateful for his role in 'Some are Lakes,'" Powell says of Vernon, who produced the album. "It is a very personal album and I can't think of anyone else to whom I would have opened up."

Recorded in the Arcade Fire's church studio, 'Some are Lakes' definitely shows a feeling of camaraderie among musicians from the Great North. So, do all those Canadian indie rockers know each other? "We play softball together, we have knitting circles, we go tobogganing together, and we do pilates together," Powell says. This time, she is being facetious.