These friends make beautiful music.

Byline: Lewis Taylor The Register-Guard

Brendan Canning makes no apologies for:

His band's name (Broken Social Scene).

His band's most recent album title (`You Forgot It in People').

His band's new album cover (a shadowy piece of packaging that looks like a one of those "After Midnight" Michelob Dark beer ads from the early 1990s).

"I think the name works for what we are," Canning says, speaking by phone from his home in Toronto. "I've definitely heard worse band names."

He's right. It could be worse for the band, which derives its name from a defunct band called John Tesh Jr. and the Broken Social Scene. Canning, who primarily handles bass but also contributes vocals and guitar for the art-house pop act, says Broken Social Scene's name suggests exactly what it is: a circle of friends that's never quite complete.

When the Canadian collective comes to the WOW Hall on Sunday, there could be as few as five people on stage and as many as nine. The group's core members - Canning, Kevin Drew, Andrew Whiteman, Jason Collett and Justin Peroff - will be joined by players from the opening band, Stars.

Collett also will perform solo opening set. All three acts are on the same Toronto record label, Arts & Crafts.

"I love the different people I get to play with; everyone does," Canning says, explaining the open-door membership policy of his group, which sometimes plays with as many as 16 members. "I enjoy traveling with the different groups of people. I enjoy what we do musically, our approach to music and the lack of real seriousness at some times, and at other times the real dedication."

"In general, no ideas are frowned upon, unless they're really (crappy). And you never know until you try it out in front of the group."

That willingness to try just about anything may be one reason Broken Social Scene is stuck with a clunky name, but the group's art-driven approach also has yielded a wildly experimental pop album that's been roundly praised for its originality, intensity, eclecticism and cohesiveness.

Earlier this year, the Toronto Star reported that the group's album was in such high demand in Canada that it was simply unavailable. The band won a Juno Award (a Canadian Grammy) in April, and a recent review on the influential Pitchfork Media indie rock Web site helped pave the way for the band's U.S. invasion.

Words such as "sincerity," "honesty" and "no gimmicks" come up frequently in discussions among the band's fans, who tend to listen to brainy bands such as Radiohead and the Magnetic Fields. Reviewers have stressed the collective's unique sound.

"Toronto's Broken Social Scene have improbably produced one of the year's freshest indie rock albums," Rolling Stone magazine announced.

"The record explodes with song after song of endlessly replayable, perfect pop," Pitchfork proclaimed.

Pop with experimental edge

The Broken Social Scene is a product of the close-knit Toronto music scene, which has recently spawned some other U.S. exports, including the indie rock band the Constantines and the aforementioned Stars.

The Toronto scene, which nearly drowned in its own experimentalism in the late 1990s, has pulled itself out of the mire and come into its own in recent years.

For the Broken Social Scene, whose previous album was deemed "a mostly rambling instrumental affair" by Rolling Stone, the secret to the turnaround seems to be tied to the band's embrace of pop music.

Not only have the songs gotten tighter and more focused, but Canning says the hooks are intentionally subtle.

"The sounds sort of develop and pop out of certain places," he explains. `It's not so `part-y' you know like, `Here comes this part,' `Here comes that part.' I think that it's able to breathe a bit.

`It's kind of a modal ap- proach, because a lot of the tunes can sort of stick to one major key, but that major key doesn't have to be so happy sounding. It can be pretty sad sounding at times, but still be uplifting."

OK, so Broken Social Scene hasn't entirely forsaken its experimental side, but the group's willingness to experiment with different moods and open up the songs, particularly in concert, now seems more closely tied to jazz improvisation than artsy experimen- tation.

Although Canning sees jazz influences at work, he says the group is first and foremost a rock band - a rock band with a different approach to making rock.

"I think it's a nicer way to approach music," he explains. "You know, (with) four guys in a garage, that kind of thing, it can come down to be a real testosterone kind of thing. Whereas the appeal of our group is it's not so macho; it's a little more free for interpretation at certain points."

What one reviewer called the group's "airy spaciousness" shines through on "Anthems for a Seventeen-Year Old Girl," a track that slowly gains intensity as vocalist Emily Haines stacks lyrics like building blocks.

The song, which is speckled throughout with banjo picking and punctuated by the recurring line, "used to be one of the rotten ones," introduces a surprising folk influence into the mix.

Another song that's defined by a strong female voice is the stormy anthem "Almost Crimes," which features guest vocalist Leslie Feist. On the more percussive "Stars and Sons," keyboards churn and hands clap. And "Cause=Time" pulses with all sorts of fuzzy noise-pop.

For the band's next album, Canning says, Broken Social Scene will throw away everything they've written and start fresh. He promises something less voluminous, but also more rocking.

Oh yeah, and also a different concept for the album cover.

"We were originally going to to use a friend's art piece, but we didn't," Canning says of the current album. "I'd sure like to in the future.

`This was not my favorite album cover but you can't please all the people all the time."

Lewis Taylor can be reached at 338-2512 or ltaylor@guardnet .com.

CONCERT PREVIEW

Broken Social Scene

With: Stars, Jason Collett

When: 8:30 p.m. Sunday

Where: McDonald Theatre, 1010 Willamette St.

Tickets: $10 in advance or $12 at the door

GuardLine: To hear music by Broken Social Scene, call the GuardLine at 485-2000 from a touch-tone phone and request category 7664

CAPTION(S):

Broken Social Scene - a collective that features (from left) Kevin Drew, Leslie Feist, Charles Spearin, Andrew Whiteman, Jason Collett, Justin Peroff and Brendan Canning - will bring some version of its lineup to the McDonald Theatre on Sunday.