Canadian indie-rock collective Broken Social Scene [ tickets ] is set to launch a world tour next week to support co-founder Kevin Drew's semi-solo album, which surfaced Tuesday (9/18).

The band will start next week with a couple of Canadian shows before heading to Europe for a few weeks, and will return to North America in late October for a three-week jaunt across the US. Domestic dates are listed below, while overseas shows can be found at the group's MySpace page.

The new record, "Spirit If ...," is billed as "Broken Social Scene Presents Kevin Drew." The BSS crew is featured on the set, as well as a host of guests including J. Mascis of Dinosaur Jr., Scott Kannberg of Pavement and Tom Cochrane.

"Spirit If ..." is said to revisit the original Broken Social Scene ethos: "music made in good
homes, recorded casually with whoever was around--no pressure, no deadlines, no worries, lots of love," according to the band's own record label, Arts & Crafts. The set was recorded by Do Make Say Think's Ohad Benchetrit at his house over the past two years while BSS was on hiatus and the members were working on their own projects. A few songs from the record are streaming at Drew's MySpace page.

"Spirit If ..." is the first in the "Broken Social Scene Presents" series, according to a statement. Band co-founder Brendan Canning and company are currently recording the second offering, which is set for an early 2008 release.

In addition to Drew and Canning, Broken Social Scene's revolving lineup includes Andrew Whiteman, Jason Collett, Justin Peroff, Charles Spearin, Evan Cranley, Leslie Feist, Emily Haines, James Shaw, John Crossingham, Bill Priddle, Chris Seligman, Amy Millan, Torquil Campbell and others. Though many of the participants are affiliated with other renowned Toronto indie bands, BSS does not consider itself a supergroup, but rather "a group of friends and loves," according to its bio.

The Juno-winning Broken Social Scene, formed by Drew and Canning in 1999, last toured North America to support its 2005 self-titled set.