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When Toronto musical collective Broken Social Scene stopped touring behind their 2005 self-titled album, many believed there would be a lull between albums.
And while that's been true to a certain extent, the core members spent the last year or two working on solo projects. Kevin Drew released Spirit If under the "Broken Social Scene Presents..." moniker last year, which was widely praised.
Now the band's Brendan Canning has his time in the spotlight with Something For All Of Us..., an album the musician says he had a lot of help creating.
"You go into it thinking, 'Okay, I have a little bit of play time on my own,' " Canning says from a New York hotel. "In some ways it's a solo record, and in other ways it's still a group effort. Nobody can make a record on their own. If they can they're smarter than me."
The album, out in stores today, features Canning on lead vocal for all of the songs, something he's rarely had a chance to do in Broken Social Scene or earlier bands such as By Divine Right, or hHead.
Of the 11 tracks, Canning enjoys the funky Love Is New and Churches Under The Stairs, the latter originating from a jam session at the headquarters of popular music website pitchfork.com.
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He says Churches Under The Stairs is also quite close to his heart.
"We mucked around with that on (Kevin's) Spirit If tour," he says. "When I came back from that tour and was finishing up my record, I brought that bass line into the studio and Kevin already had a full idea for it. I had half of that song tracked and he was surprised and excited so we set up a microphone and he did some vocals on it. A couple of days later I decided I would do some vocals too, and then we worked on this chorus."
Perhaps the only thing annoying him is the Japanese version of the record. Like most releases in that region, a bonus track or tracks are often added. But Canning says the extra song's inclusion seems pointless on this album.
"I did an interview with a Japanese writer last week and we both sort of said, 'Yeah I felt the album really could have ended there (after Take Care, Look Up)," he says. "So we both decided that even though you get a bonus track, it's not a bonus. It's like getting extra scenes on a DVD."
Although there's no DVD attached to the album, Canning had director Bruce McDonald make a documentary on the musician wrapping up Something For All Of Us... The documentary has no official release date but is expected to be out soon.
"He had just done a documentary with (Toronto rock band) Die Mannequin and he wanted to do something with Broken Social Scene," Canning says. "We said, 'There's not too much going on.' My girlfriend Sarah said to do it on the finishing of my album and he said, 'Yeah that's a great idea.' I wouldn't trust that job to too many people."
Canning says the biggest hurdle he has had with this tour is rehearsing, namely leaving the warm weather outdoors for an indoor rehearsal space to "play some loud guitar rock."
The tour will visit some Canadian festivals this summer -- Aug 4 in Montreal, Aug. 10 in Edmonton and Aug. 15 in Ottawa, with a Toronto date planned for November, roughly around the same time when the musician says Broken Social Scene will start working on a new studio effort.
In the meantime, Canning says he'll keep making music as a solo artist and in Broken Social Scene.
"I always have ideas that I think aren't going to be fulfilled in Broken Social Scene because generally I have a lot of ideas," he says. "There's lot of music to be made, and I love making music with my Broken Social Scene compadres."