Broken Social Scene – Hug of Thunder

Before taking a break of seven years from releasing albums, Broken Social Scene established itself as one of indie rock’s most epic practitioners. The group’s ambient, experimental 2001 debut, Feel Good Lost gave way to the wide-angle vision of its 2002 breakthrough, You Forgot It In People, an album of giddy highs and moody lows. The band has been mostly silent, studio-wise, since 2010’s Forgiveness Rock Record — the various members of its loose-knit roster keep themselves busy in other high-profile acts such as Feist, Stars and Metric, not to mention the occasional solo album — but the Toronto collective is at last set to return with its fifth full-length, Hug Of Thunder (out July 7 on Arts & Crafts).(NPR)+stream

Whitehorse – Panther In The Dollhouse

Mostly known for the undeniable musical synergy between real-life married couple Melissa McClelland and Luke Doucet, the pair makes a shift on this album from writing autobiographical songs to writing songs they refer to as “anti-fairytales,” written from the point of view of a cast of mostly female characters who grapple with issues of life, death, sex and love, all floating in an atmosphere of cinematic desert-noir.(CBC Music)+stream