Metric - Fantasies
Posted by Kuang on Mon, 23 Mar 2009.
Emily Haines - keyboards, vocals
James Shaw - guitar, vocals
Josh Winstead - bass guitar
Joules Scott-Key - drums
Receiving Metric's single 'Help I'm Alive' was one of my musical highpoints of this year, and I couldn't wait to hear the album and see what I'd missed all this time. After having the album living in the car for a week on near constant play I can report that it's a sparkling little gem.
'Fantasies' treads a razor sharp tightrope between punkish electronica and the sweetest of melodies, with minimalist and driven backbeats underpinning retro house-like synths, all nailed down with stabs of snarly garage guitar. Tracks like 'Gold, Guns and Girls' and 'Front Row' stream by, focused and lean to the point of being skeletal while 'Twilight Galaxy' and 'Collect Call' downshift into the realms of gorgeous, harmony-laden ambience. 'Fantasies' twists and jinks around, effortlessly switching pace and texture with unswerving competence and fluidity. There are moments throughout the album that call to mind some of my favourite bands from the early late 80s and 90s and seem to bring that immediate infectiousness that I don't recall hearing too much of recently. From shades of St Etienne in the the gentle, summery 'Collect Call' to Lush's hipster sneer on 'Sick Muse' and even a hint of Throwing Muses in the downbeat 'Blindness', 'Fantasies' plays like a textbook on implanting unshakeable hooks that live on when the song has faded.
There's an element here I haven't mentioned that elevates Metric above so many electro-pop pretenders, and that comes in the form of Emily Haines' adorable yet menacing vocals - she has that rare but wonderful balance of vulnerability and snarl that beguiles yet keeps you on your toes. 'Watch out Cupid / stuck me with a sickness / Pull your little arrows out and let me live my life' is delivered with an aggressive finality that verges on cold whilst the delicate 'Keep me closer / I'm a lazy dancer / When you move I move with you' makes you want to sweep her up and give her a hug. She forms the perfect human counterpoint to Metric's digital alter-ego.
Fanatasies is unquestionably brilliant - simple yet striking and with subtleties that continue to reveal themselves for as long as you want to listen.. and believe me, you will.