Metric – Fantasies

Expectations are high these days for high profile indie rockers. Emily Haines has been featured on a veritable “who’s who” list of records from Toronto (from Broken Social Scene to The Stills and others) and has impressive solo work to her name as well. Meanwhile, guitarist James Shaw lends his chops to Metric and as a more permanent member of Broken Social Scene as well as some smaller groups. But all that is just the icing, the real treat here is and always has been Metric the band.

Their music has been featured on popular network shows, their concerts put up on cable television, and it’s no surprise: the music is terribly catchy, from their classic jams like “Monster Hospital,” “Hustle Rose,” “Dead Disco,” and beyond. This band doesn’t stop at the tape though — even the most stone footed hipster would have trouble not rocking out to their famous live shows.

The new record, Fantasies, is no departure from what has worked for them since their debut album, Grow Up and Blow Away, in 2001. “Help I’m Alive,” the new single, will get your blood moving and your mouth will be singing along before you even get halfway through. “Satellite Mind” taps into something great about this record: as Haines gets more keyboard work on solo records, Shaw’s guitar work gets a chance to breathe on some tracks and really drive the music forward. Emily’s casually killer voice mixed with Shaw’s in the pocket urgency make for a record that seems like it’s always checking for leaks—any second it could erupt. “Gold Guns Girls” sounds like Joe Jackson’s “Steppin Out” after a dirty syringe shot of adrenaline. Haines presses more buttons than just on the synth as she lets out “All the toys and the tools in the box couldn’t get you off…is it ever gonna be enough?” While other singers rely on desperation to sell such a line, she relies on a subtle cool that’s telling: it’s never going to be enough — she knows it — and she’s walking away as the words leave her mouth.

Admittedly, at times the pop savvy of the band can get the better of their rocking and chords and harmonies that fall into place so easily can seem somewhat cheaply gotten and squeak with that ProTools shine (“Stadium Love” is very Weezer’s Green Album… in the bad way). Even they admit the challenge in “Gimme Sympathy,” a song with nods to The Beatles, the Stones, and the pit and pratfalls of music writing. Such is the way with many successful bands that have figured out the formula: it’s hard to detach the art from the artifice here but even at the worst Metric is still cranking out some of the best straightforward fun rock music out there.

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