Lightning Bolts A‑Glowin’

If the devil is in the details, Michael Barclay may well have written this hefty book with flames shooting from his ears. Barclay, whose previous works chronicled the life of Gord Downie (The Never-Ending Present) and the 1985–95 Canadian rock renaissance (Have Not Been the Same, co-authored with Ian A. D. Jack and Jason Schneider), turns his attention to the network of music scenes that flourished during the first five years of the aughts. Hearts on Fire is an ambitious project from an accomplished journalist, a wellspring of anecdotes and testimony wrought from more than 100 exclusive interviews and two decades of research. This is a story worth telling, and Barclay is the one to tell it. (Is there better street cred than having your voice on record as part of the anthemic chorus of Arcade Fire’s era-defining call to arms, “Wake Up”?)

Barclay’s project unpacks...