Julie Doiron: Broken Girl (expanded 29th anniversary edition) [NUMERO]

Why you'll love it

Numero's expanded edition adds rare 7-inch tracks to the original album and a photo of Julie with her dog Samantha. Numero calls it the original 90s soft grunge sad-girl record.

This edition

• Expanded edition
• 29th anniversary edition
• Bonus 7-inch tracks

About the album

Julie Doiron joined Eric's Trip at 18, playing bass in one of the most loved bands Moncton, New Brunswick has ever produced. Shortly before that band split in 1996, she put out a record of her own under the name Broken Girl, following a couple of 7-inch EPs, and in doing so started one of the steadiest solo careers in Canadian indie music.

Broken Girl was made in the bedroom and sounds like it, in the best way. Doiron ran her guitar through a Rat II distortion pedal and sang softly over it, working through a breakup, new love, a pregnancy and the death of her grandmother. Songs like Dance Music, Crumble and August 10 are small and close, the kind you lean in to hear, and the fuzz makes them feel warmer rather than louder.

She went on to share a Juno with Wooden Stars, play on records by the Tragically Hip and Gordon Downie, and help launch SappyFest. Nearly three decades on, these songs still sound best at low volume, late at night, which is also when we do our most careful stocktaking.

Also at Kops: more Julie Doiron on vinyl · browse CDN Pop / Rock

Listen

On Numero Group, a reissue of the 1996 album.