Toronto Is Broken - Clare LP [YANA Music]

Welcome to my fourth album write-up! I apologize in advance for the wall of text that is about to follow. Scroll down for a TL;DR on the LP.

Background

As always I'd like to give a little history lesson on who we are even talking about today before delving into the release itself. Today's subject is rising star dancefloor producer Toronto Is Broken! Hope you brought your notepads kids, there's going to be a quiz tomorrow! It's funny because he's a teacher in real life hehehe.

Humble Beginnings

Toronto Is Broken, also known as Christian Hoffmann^1, started his career in music way back when he was on the other side of the teacher's desk, i.e. when he was but a schoolboy himself. His first musical passion was the guitar. However, when he didn't quite find the right group of people to found a band with, the Hinckley-based producer followed Jason Derulo's example and decided to start Ridin' Solo.

If you're asking yourself "Wtf is a Hinckley", don't worry, I had the same question. Apparently it's a company that sells Yachts! Not bad, Mr Hoffmann. I'm not 100% about the logistics of that, but it sure sounds fancy at least. Or maybe it's the lovely little town near Leicestershire that shares the same name, it's anybody's guess really.

The main impulse that made him pursue electronic music back then? Enter Shikari's first album Take To The Skies! The first release that came out of this was his mostly-dubstep Never Easy EP that he gave away for free on his SoundCloud in 2009. Wait, didn't his Beatport description say he is 21? Well, turns out that just hasn't been updated in a while. The image of 10 year old Christian producing dubstep on SoundCloud is still funny to me though. Through elaborate scouting of international databases (i.e. I checked his Facebook) I found out he's actually 27, which means 1) he was actually 15-16 when he released that EP, which is still super impressive, and 2) we're roughly the same age. Huh.

My own identity crisis aside, let's talk about Christian's artist identity for a second. Let's get the obvious question out of the way: Why is a UK-based artist called something with Toronto and what makes him say it's broken? Well, there's no great answer to this. Mr. Hoffmann simply needed a cool name and was inspired by the "random place + random adjective" naming trend at the time, bam, Toronto Is Broken is born.

In 2010 two more big releases followed: The 15-track album Reboot on Dual Signal Records, which was TiB's first shot at an own label and specialised in garage / dubstep / drum'n'bass, and the 9-track album Kusanagi on IDM Forum Records, a label for regulars on the IDM Forums for electronic music producers. With 16/17, mind you. Two years later in 2012 he sent a tune to High Rankin, legendary producer and radio host who has once been called the "best dressed man in drum & bass". High Rankin was a strong supporter of Christian pretty much from the start and immediately forwarded the track to Jay Cunning, former Kiss FM and RAM Records resident and, more importantly, label boss of Sub Slayers. Very soon after, TiB was signed by said label.

Slayin' Subs

One of the first big milestones of Mr. Hoffmann's early career was his 2012 rework of his track Spirit Song. From Sub Focus to Paul Oakenfold to the international Arcadia Spectacular show, this track was everywhere at the time. Even five years later, Arcadia still used it in their live shows. Hot off the heels of this massive success, TiB continued releasing EPs on Sub Slayers until he one day decided to take on a bigger project: his debut album! Well, a proper one this time.

Enter: Section Nine. A 18-track long gapless journey through the various genres Christian produced that tells a story about the downfall of a civilization that has become too dependant on technology. Released on Sub Slayers in 2015, this certainly was his biggest and most ambitious projects at that time. Rightfully so, this drew the attention of some of the bigger labels, one of them being Futurebound's Viper Recordings. A few months after Section Nine dropped, he released a track on Viper's The Sound Of Drum & Bass 2015, followed by a track on Technique Recordings' 15 Years of Technique: Summer Selection. Even though most things were going great for Christian, there was one negative thing about 2015: A fax machine fell on his face at work the other day^2. I'd still call it a good year for him overall though.

The Sting Of The Viper

After a few more single and EP releases on Viper, Technique and his home base Sub Slayers, he slowly but surely took on his next big project: The sequel album You Are (Not) Alone, released on none other than Viper Recordings in 2018! Just like his first album, this one isn't just a collection of tracks, but tells an actual story and is meant to be listened to in one sitting. Not just that, Toronto Is Broken's sophomore album actually continues the story told in Section Nine!

In a world where civilization has collapsed in on itself, there's one particular individual who just can't catch a break. From depression to isolation, they have to deal with it all. Fitting for this year. For destroying the planet, the deity "I Am" decided to bring some good old divine retribution onto mankind, specifically on our protagonist, who is just trying to find their place in this broken world. As some of you may have noticed, the title and themes present here are referencing the first Evangelion movie with the same name.

Listening to the two back-to-back you hear a clear evolution not just storywise, but also musically. While Sector Nine featured a lot of garage and dubstep, You Are (Not) Alone leaned way more heavily into the drums and basses we all love. YA(N)A is also the album on which you can more clearly than ever hear Christian incorporating his guitar skills into his music. As you might have guessed by my wording, it wasn't the last time.

Insert YANA Pun Here

It also wasn't the last time he used the name YANA for a project of his. I'm of course referring to his label YANA Music that he founded in 2019. What once started out as an outlet for Mr. Hoffmann's own bangers to slap your nans to (or ya nans amirite), soon became a platform to shine a spotlight on all kinds of underground artists in the dancefloor scene. It started with Battletek's double single at the end of January 2020, since then known as YANAuary, and did not slow down one bit throughout the entire year. The likes of Aktive, Vypes, Coastal, LUCA or Matt Neux have all released singles, EPs or the annual compilations album last year. They might not be stadium-filler names just yet, but if they keep the quality as high as their YANA releases they might well soon become one.

Enough backstory, let's get to the good part!

Footnotes

(1) I swear I'm not just covering him because I share a surname with him.

(2) In case anyone doubts my journalistic integrity, straight from the Hoffmann's mouth: https://dnbvault.com/toronto-is-broken-interview/

Track Breakdown

Warning: Interpretations of themes and lyrics might be wildly wrong. But hey, it's all subjective innit?

1. We Are

As stated in interviews and promotional material of the album, Clare is about the journey of rediscovery. Nothing conveys this better than the introductory track, We Are. Through various callbacks to the intro tune I Am and the outro You Are Not Alone on YA(N)A, including, but not limited to, the ominous computer generated voice and the general structure of the lyrics, this one shows us the difference between the old and the new TiB right off the bat.

Instead of a singular almighty deity threatening the protagonist, it is now a collective We that is terrorizing us. However, when you listen closely to the lyrics, it seems it's not an actual group of people talking, but your own subconscious. Wait, don't leave, hear me out for a second. Especially when you consider the theme of rediscovery on Clare, it becomes clear that lyrics like "We Are The Thoughts You Want To Erase" set up the antagonist of the track to be the manifestations of your own worst fears and anxieties. Just comply with their supposedly non-biased, motive-less demands, that you deep down know are holding you back, otherwise they might use their power to take all you have. After all, these anxieties are part of your soul, as you have convinced yourself.

Continuing with this interpretation, the heavy instrumental could represent the internal struggle against these harmful thoughts. While you have the antagonists threatening you more and more the longer they talk, the urge to fight against them gets increasingly stronger until it explodes into the absolutely banging drop. The thoughts are not so easily defeated, but you keep fighting back with progressively more power behind it. After the first explosion, the beautiful guitar-heavy breakdown makes it clear that something has changed. While the fight isn't over quite yet (we still got 14 tracks ahead of us), there is less uncontrollable anger and more clear guiding thoughts behind your actions.

It is not just a rediscovery on a story level though, it feels like Christian is also rediscovering his DnB sound. Even though the basic structure of the repeating computer generated lyrics is similar to I Am, they are otherwise nothing alike. He took this basic framework from his earlier work and reshaped it into something brand new. It shows a clear evolution in production and personality in every way.

What a way to start an album. I want to say not every track will get such a dissertation, but I can't make any promises.

2. Always In Motion

Let's keep our body movin' with Always In Motion, which features long-time regular collaborators Deuce & Charger with Becky providing one of her trademark banging vocal performances.

Just like on We Are, TiB worked a lot of guitars into this, which is especially apparent during the buildup. In fact, both of the buildups have such a metal feel to it that you might forget you're listening to drum and bass. Paired with Deuce & Charger's vocals, the intro is not just stylistically unique (for dnb at least), but also simply great at hyping me up for the simple yet bloody catchy drop. After the main melody's first run-through, the vocals sneak back in and repeat the main message of the song: You keep my body movin'. Probably my favorite part of the track.

Storywise this track goes into a slightly different direction, while still being in keeping with the self improvement theme. This time told from a first person point of view, I like to imagine that it tells a story about a person's passions and desires and how these can consume an individual. Forever on a wild hunt to find what defines you, until you're "facing the point of no return" and you lose track of what is really important in life. Whatever that is. Even though this interpretation is more about the "way down" of a person's development instead of the actual improvement itself, one could argue that some of the biggest changes in one's life come when one has reached a rock bottom of sorts.

If you like your life lessons infused with rave pianos and big ol' BRR's, you might enjoy the massive SyRan remix of this one that was released as a single leading up to this!

3. The Moment

Coming up next we've got one of the first more interpersonal tracks of the album: The Moment.

With the help of an emotionally charged vocal performance by Canadian singer/producer/songwriter Amy Kirkpatrick, who is sadly not living in Toronto but in Vancouver at the moment (but has lived in Toronto at least!), Christian has crafted a textbook example of a great melodic dancefloor banger. The lyrics are perfectly singalong-able, the main melody is catchy as hell, the drums are urging you to dance already, it's all there. All throughout the track there's also this bouncy bass that adds yet another dancefloor layer to it.

While this track of course also utilizes a whole lot of guitars, they are more of a background element. However, they are still responsible for one of my favorite parts of the track: Towards the end there's this nearly drum-less part where the electric guitar just starts solo-ing in the background and I absolutely love it. There's probably a word for that kind of guitar play. Christian, if you're reading this, please share it in the comments.

The Moment is about the longing for togetherness, which is probably something we've all experienced at some point. The protagonist has lost a special someone and just wants to share a moment with them again, to simply satisfy the inner craving for human connection. As mentioned in an interview with Data Transmission, this album also acts as a mirror of TiB's personal life and, more importantly, relationships. While that is the obvious connection of the track, it has also not escaped me that this past year has brought a new meaning to these lyrics. After months and months of isolation, aren't we all craving for a moment with people at this point?

4. Clairvoyant

Let's all take a breather from all this mess.

On Clairvoyant, Toronto Is Broken forgoes all vocals, allowing the instrumental to speak for itself. And oh boy, does it ever deliver on that. It is probably the most atmospheric and, dare I say it, most epic track of the album. It starts off with a beautiful low-key guitar riff that gradually builds itself up throughout the track. With every passing second, there are more elements coming in, from the heavenly strings to the incredibly organic sounding drums. Honestly, those drums make the whole track sound like it was performed live on stage with instruments.

This all culminates into the first drop that is just utterly beautiful. Those high-pitched guitar chords, followed by the looped descending scale, create an incredibly melancholic yet uplifting atmosphere. Damn, now I've already exhausted all the music words I know. Anyway. While the second drop has more of an aery buildup to it, it packs even more of a punch than the first one, with a background choir making the whole thing feel even more majestic.

Thematically, this feels like the moment our protagonist has finally had an epiphany. They have become clairvoyant, not in the pseudoscience sense, but as in they are seeing clearly now. They know they have to change. But it's not just the name, the whole track feels like a soundtrack to a mind-freeing experience. Just pure bliss.

5. Reminisce

Time for some nostalgia, for me at least. The fifth track of the bunch is Reminisce, featuring London-based Natty Campbell on the vocals. What does this track have to do with nostalgia, you ask? Well, the whole vibe of guitar-heavy high-energy drum and bass with reggae vocals this track goes for makes my mind instantly wander to a certain DnB band from down under. You know, the earlier era of tracks about how spiders might sting ya, which of course makes me a bit nostalgic. Nostalgic not necessarily for the time itself, but for the youthful, carefree energy usually associated with the "good old time". Even without any of that context, that is exactly the energy the track goes for. Pure kick down the door type, punk energy. Banger.

On a story level, this track represents the protagonist going inward, reminiscing about the things that gave them energy before everything went downhill. More literally, it is about Christian remembering how much he has always loved Metal/Electronic Rock, which ultimately led to him trying to recreate the energy of those genres in his drum and bass productions. Sometimes figuratively by trying to simply create similarly high-powered music, sometimes literally by using metal guitars and more.

6. Digital

Next on the list we've got Digital, featuring one of Christian's label mates, the up-and-comer Matt Neux. Continuing on with the nostalgia trip, this one heavily reminds me of the bands I listened to when I was 15 or so. With that I don't mean that it literally sounds like Green Day or other punk/emo bands, but rather that the whole fun energy of it reminded me a lot of it. A big contributor to that funness is the great vocal that is just perfect to sing along to, but the, once again, guitar-focused upbeat dancefloor riff plays a huge part too. Special shout-out to that keychange in the very last part of the drop, I love that part.

Story? Yes of course! Digital feels like that initial rush that discovering something new comes with: So many new things, so many possibilities! In it, that "something new" tells us that it has already been expecting us and is ready to rescue us from our misery. You don't want to wake up, but don't worry, everything is changing now. Or maybe it's about that song from the Digimon movie. I like both interpretations.

7. Interlude III

It is here! Part three of the exciting Interlude trilogy! I've been waiting 6 years for the conclusion of this majestic saga and what can I say, I'm blown away!

Come on, it's just an interlude, that paragraph should not need a sarcasm warning, right? As with his other two interludes on Section Nine, this one is a neat little bridge between two different parts of the album, and to an extent, the story. The rediscovery process is now in full swing, no holding back anymore.

8. Gunfingers

After this moment of quiet, how about we try the opposite? It's time to put your Gunfingers up!

As we enter the second half of the album, we also enter the full-on metal part of the album. This phase is ushered in by Gunfingers, featuring the usually more clothing-oriented Sebotage on the vocals. Might sound like a strange choice at first, but once you hear how much power he brings to his performance, you'll know why he was chosen.

It starts off innocent enough, but before you know it Christian brings out the big guitars and you are right in the middle of a metal buildup. As if the guitars weren't already hype enough, Sebotage absolutely destroys the last bit of doubt you might have had that this wouldn't be an absolute banger of a track. Like he says, It's the anthem. Kind of surprisingly, the drop switches over to a completely different kind of vibe. A harsh pull-up kind of sound stops the movement completely. For a few seconds, super fast high-pitched downward scales (99% chance i'm using these words wrong) take over and give it almost a jumpup vibe, before Sebotage and the guitars regain control of the track. The contrast between the two is really fun to listen to and that just hold up for a second switch sequence keeps catching me off guard, no matter how often I listen to it.

Our protagonist is now at the point where they have gained a boatload of new confidence in himself. Showing the finger to the world, ready to take on whatever lies ahead of him.

9. The Freefall

So did you think we've already hit peak metal on this album? Think again! If the album so far was a slow descend into metal DnB, we've now just fully jumped off into the abyss of heavy guitars, screamo and what have you. In other words, we're in Freefall now. Lots of words for that one pun, but worth it.

Switching the gunfingers for the finger horns now, The Freefall takes less prisoners than there are Rudi Völlers (hint for the non-germans: there's only one). The guitars are the heaviest they have ever been on this album. Featured Chicagoan vocalist BVLVNCE delivers the most high-energy vocals of the whole album, which is saying something. The drop hits hard in ways that I can't even begin to describe. And don't even get me started on that amazing breakdown! No really, don't, I am honestly kind of speechless.

Everyone involved in this track has outdone themselves, this might be my favorite track of the album. I'm not even a metal listener or anything, but this stuff just bangs man. And the vocals even include a "Fuck 2020" line, what more could one even ask for?

Just like with Gunfingers, we're still in the fuck you all, look at how well this is working phase. The track pumps me up so much that this phase of euphoria the protagonist is going through is making me ecstatic too.

What a tune.

10. Cut Into Me

After this burst of energy, we calm down a bit more. On Cut Into Me we go from heavy metal to the more emo side of things. Instead of the high-energy screamo, we have a more emotional take on the genre, courtesy of Zero Fire's very own Graham King. Zero Fire is actually a Canadian band, funnily enough. However, they are of course not from Toronto, but from Hamilton, Ontario. How are there two Canadian features, but not a single one from Toronto?? Christian, please.

Remember what I said earlier about awakening deeply buried memories of the stuff 15-year-old me used to listen to? Cut Into Me is another entry in that series. I ain't even mad, I love this stuff. I wish I was still as invested into that scene as I was as a teenager, because then I could reference some bands this track reminds me of. It might not be the most grandiose track that will knock your socks off, but it has a lot of heart.

Cut Into Me is about the fierce sting in your heart you feel when you find out your partner has betrayed you. You've had your suspicions for a while. They came home late, they have acted weirdly, something was just off. At some point you confront them and they confirm your worst theories. It's like they cut right into your heart. How could they do this? How could they do this and think it wouldn't destroy everything? Full of fresh bitterness and contempt for them, you hope they will one day get what they deserve and go through the same. It's pure resentment, wrapped into a beautifully melancholic rocky drum and bass track.

11. Between Planes

Alright, let's take a step back and get to some dancefloor again. Up next we have Between Planes featuring Amy Kirkpatrick, her second feature on the album. Unlike her first appearance, this second one is more of a spoken word, ritualistic mantra kind of performance. It's a vocal that makes me want to not sleep and dance all night for some reason. There's only one place to be, you know?

Joking aside, this track was obviously inspired by one of Dimension's album single, Don't Sleep with Culture Shock. I'm not just blindly assuming that, Christian himself said it in a radio interview. Unlike its inspiration, this one puts more focus on the vocal and isn't quite as heavy-hitting. It doesn't explode into anything or throw you off your chair, it's more of a hypnotic experience. As mentioned in that same interview, he was aiming for exactly that mesmerizing mantra vibe. A vibe which Amy, who is a big fan of Yoga "and all that", instantly knew how to achieve. The end result speaks for itself in my opinion.

That vibe is represented in the lyrics too of course. With Cut Into Me we've entered the relationship-focused part of the album and Between Planes is no exception. The disappointment and even hatred has given way to a feeling of dissociation. The protagonist has become emotionally absent and seems to just go "through the motions", without actually being over the relationship yet. Even in that dissociated state, they still deep down want their partner with them, even though it is long over. That's the impression I get from it at least.

12. ENERGY

If you have listened to some of TiB's earlier work, you might be surprised to hear that nearly all of the tracks on Clare are DnB (at their core). Make way for the Dubstep part of the album: ENERGY!

However just because this is a dubstep track, doesn't mean there's no guitars present! Combined with a few psytrance elements in the buildup, you get quite the unique production. I think. Okay you got me, I honestly don't know much about Dubstep. I know some names and have been to 2-3 Dubstep raves, but that's where my knowledge of the genre ends. All I can tell you is that it hits hard and is way more unique than the few tracks that I do know.

That's not where this track ends though. The guitars continue on, while the dubstep slowly fades away. During this transformation, you hear a voice instructing you how to let go of your earthly problems. It's not just about raw ENERGY that causes carnage everywhere, but also about how to channel that energy and learning to control it. At that point in the track the Dubstep has been completely replaced by Rock, which is kind of a neat mirror of TiB's artistic transformation. Just without the DnB I guess. Super interesting track.

P.S. I'm 99% sure that I have heard that vocal before but I can't pinpoint where.

13. Paragons

Enough soul-searching for now, let's tear this place down! And what could be a better soundtrack than Paragons with BVLVNCE?

It starts off just like ENERGY left, slow with minimal guitar to guide as along. A beep here, a boop there. Soon after, BVLVNCE makes his way to the scene. Before you know it, the heavy guitars make a comeback, and with it the lush vocals of the Canadian singer turn rougher too. If you might think that this is already part of the drop, you are sorely mistaken! The real fun starts soon after, when the main melody slowly comes into play.

Speaking of, I absolutely love the mysterious feeling this melody adds to the whole mix. Especially when the "soft" vocals of BVLVNCE and the guitars come back into the mix, it's just such a good combo. Also, can I just say that I absolutely adore the second buildup? That back and forth between the "soft" (I need a better word for this) and the screamo vocals works so so so well. I just wish I could do the screamo voice because I want to sing along to it so bad. Apparently Paragons was the first track Christian wrote for this album and was one of the main reasons why he chose to go down this metal path, which makes a lot of sense. If you knock it out of the park that much with your first try at it, it only makes sense to do a whole project out of it.

On the story side, Paragons is about, well, Paragons. That concludes my TED talk. Well, not quite yet. The Paragons in the context of this track are all the impossible standards we set for ourselves. Even if we do actually reach one of these goals, we just set the bar even higher. This strive for perfection that connects us all, or at least some of us. If that strive is left unchecked, it might even manifest in perfectionism. In other words: "Everything you become are paragons". The back-and-forth between the two vocal styles could represent the inner conflict between wanting to continue chasing this perfect version of yourself and wanting to accept yourself as you are. I might be reading too much into this at this point though.

14. Letters Goodbye

We're getting dangerously close to the end now, time to bust out the big guns. Emotionally speaking, of course. It's time for Letters Goodbye. For this emotional, dare I say it, ballad Christian has recruited Christina Rotondo, a vocalist from Nottingham that some might know from her Bring Me The Horizon or Evanescence covers. Just from the description she already sounds like the perfect candidate for this, right? That's not all, Christian is also joined by label mate Aktive on the production, which has always been a great combination. And oh boy do both features ever deliver on those high expectations!

This track needs a bit of backstory. When Christian and his ex separated, they both put their feelings into words by writing each other a letter, to both reflect on the time spent together and put into words why it couldn't go on any further. Some time after the split, Christian wanted to process this highly emotional moment in his life through his music and sent a copy of this letter to Katie Koven, who he thought would be able to capture the weight of it all perfectly. He thought correctly!

The end result is the most emotional track of the album, by far. Combining these emotionally charged lyrics, which Christina Rotondo delivers beautifully and with incredible power in her voice, with this melodic dancefloor style captures the sheer overload of feelings flawlessly. It doesn't go quietly into the night, it doesn't fizzle out, it ends with a bang, emotionally speaking. It also conveys that feeling that while it might not feel great in the moment, it is still the right decision overall. It is a necessary change that will benefit both in the long term, even if it doesn't seem like that initially. A change that allows both to rediscover themselves once more.

15. Love

We're at the end, this is the outro. Time to reminisce a bit. Let the feelings sink in a bit, close your eyes and let the dreamy instrumental take you away. Snippets from the album pass you by, most recognizably The Moment, as the somber melancholy reaches it's heighest heights yet. After this journey we've earned this rest.

Summary / TL;DR

Well, that was quite a ride wasn't it?

Toronto Is Broken's third concept album Clare is one of the big albums this year and will definitely be named in my Album Of The Year lists in December. It is an album chock-full of great unique ideas, awesome melodies, sublime guitar-work, incredible vocal performances, and to top it all off, phenomenal story-telling. It's one coherent piece of music.

TiB's new metal-inspired style fits him so much that I hope there will be plenty of more to come. I liked his style before already, but he has really found a niche that just works for him. You can just hear how much appreciation he has for Metal, Djent and all the other rock genres he has worked into this release.

My favorite tracks have to be We Are, which is just an awesome way to start off an album and will destroy dancefloors everywhere, Clairvoyant, because it is straight-up beautiful, Digital, whose vocals are so catchy that I just had to loop the track for a few days, and The Freefall and Paragons, which both are just absolute mayhem and make me want to throw something.

Absolutely massive album.