Like the BSS output, Spirit If . . . overflows with sound. In “Lucky Ones,” a pulsing post-rock groove keeps accumulating layers of detail till it threatens to buckle under the weight of them all; by the tune’s end, even Tom Cochrane — the aging Canadian rocker responsible for “Life Is a Highway” — has joined the fray. And with its bleeping synths, queasy horns, and rustic guitar twang, “Big Love” can’t seem to decide whether it wants to be a futuristic R&B tune or a space-cowboy lament.

Still, Drew does mark out this material as his own by slowing things down and working in a more contemplative mode than his band have lately. Unlike the 2005 Broken Social Scene, which drew uncommon power from its headlong beats, Spirit If . . . takes plenty of time to revel in the beauty of its surfaces. Drew says he laid down much of the album’s drums on MIDI, then invited Scenester Justin Peroff to “come in and do his thing around them.” He calls Peroff a “beast” and says that “what you’re hearing on the last Broken Social Scene record is the urgency of that beast.” On Spirit If . . ., he says that he was drawn more to “a certain rhythm I’m addicted to. I call it the Stereolab beat.”

Of course, that doesn’t mean he planned it that way. “This record just kind of happened. I didn’t go into the studio and make a map of it.” Drew laughs. “I’ve never been able to do that with my life, let alone with a record.”