Cherry Review: An Album of Note

Metric
Fantasies

***/5

Hard-lolita Haines delivers toe-tapping alt-ruckus

Bouncing back to their early 2000 roots, Canada’s Metric continues to ride their new age-inspired indie rock wave with singer Emily Haines still topping the hypnotic crest. Harkening back to more hard-hitting albums like Live it Out (2005) and Old World Underground (2003), Fantasies challenges listeners with solemn, complex quandaries concerning fame, relationships and inevitable accountability to both. Deeper concepts may be lost on those who can’t quit jiving to Haines’ alluring voice, but that’s half the point. Though potentially heavy downers, songs aided by her consistently clamorous-turned precocious sound allows listeners to absorb seamlessly. ‘Front Row,’ for instance, accounts that the greatest aspect of stardom is eventual supernova, coyly stating: ’He’s not perfect, he’s a victim / of his occupation, social insulation … / … Burned out stars they shine so bright.’

Sure-fire hits like ‘Sick Muse,’ the album’s near-perfect opener ‘Help I’m Alive’ and ‘Gold Guns Girls’ also vie with innate corruption of social and monetary success/excess with solid guitar, drums and synths. The album drags a bit toward the middle, ‘Twilight Galaxy’ especially seeming to lack energy present elsewhere. However, strong tracks like ‘Satellite Mind,’ the charming ‘Collect Call’ and the album’s finale of romantic showdown ‘Stadium Love’ (despite some annoying riffs) make up for the lag. Listening to Metric at its best is overhearing a conflicted woman’s lyrical diatribe against the harsh world we live in. Haines says it best in ‘Alive’, matter-of-factly singing: ‘If I stumble they’re gonna eat me alive … / … Help, I’m alive, my heart keeps beating like a hammer / Hard to be soft, tough to be tender.’ The group overcomes, presenting something at once rebellious and comprehensive.