It was my first day back at work today after
10 days off and I’m a bit knackered. I guess that’s why they call it work.
Disc 1269 is… Fantasies
Artist:
Metric
Year of Release: 2009
What’s up with the
Cover?
A light bulb with very little power or an idea that isn’t terribly original.
How I Came to Know
It: I
originally heard about them through the video for their 2005 song “Poster of
a Girl.” When I reviewed that record (2005’s “Live It Out” I repeatedly mis-name
the song as “Portrait of a Girl”. I’m not going to correct it but will
instead live with the shame.
How It Stacks Up: Metric has seven albums, but I only have three
of them. I had originally left the top spot open for “Fantasies” but now that
all three are under my belt I’m going to give the title to 2005’s “Live It Out”
and drop “Fantasies” back into second place. Since this is my last Metric
review, here’s a full recap:
- Live It Out: 3 stars (reviewed at Disc 312)
- Fantasies: 3 stars (reviewed right here)
- Old World Underground, Where Are You Now?: 2 stars (reviewed at Disc 95)
Ratings: 3 stars
“Fantasies” saw Metric trade in their early indie
pop sound for a more commercially friendly stadium anthem sound. It isn’t a sell-out,
however; it is a natural progression of their sound, which always had the
potential to go in that direction.
The resulting album is a bit uneven, but not
because of the artistic choices. If anything, the same thing that holds
previous Metric albums back applies here as well: they tend to imagine their
songs to be a bit cleverer than they actually are. This can lead to unexpected artistic turns that don't necessarily make the song better.
What is good here is very good, with Emily
Haines easily embracing her role as pop diva. Her vocals are equal parts alternative
rocker girl and seductive starlet. The production is thick – even fuzzy in
places – but it creates a big sound that makes everything feel Very Important.
The songs have an urgent energy to them that fills your mind with images of
laser light shows and flashing floodlights.
The sound worked for them commercially. This
is the first record to chart and spawned three #1 hits on Canadian alternative
radio (I’m told, I don’t listen to the radio). In any event, Metric had been
making interesting music for a number of years and it was good to see them do
well commercially.
For the most part, it is the radio hits that
are my favourites on the record. The opener, “Help, I’m Alive” is a
glorious anthem that mixes Haines’ sugar-sweet vocals with a surprisingly
crunchy guitar. The song construction has a lot going on for a pop song but
never feels weighed down as a result. As an A&R man would say “I think
we’ve got a hit on our hands!” – and they did.
They never achieve the lofty heights of “Help,
I’m Alive” on the album again, but they do manage to maintain the momentum
it generates. The final track, “Stadium Love” ensures that the album’s
book ends are also its best parts with another anthem, this time complete with
plenty of enthusiastic “woo-hoo-woo-ooo” sounds in case you weren’t
already sufficiently amped.
In between the record is solid, although “Twilight
Galaxy” and “Collect Call” both feel a bit overly ambitious. They
are dressed up in all the fanfare of the album’s production, but here it is an
ill-fitting suit, too slick and polished for all the art-school experiments underneath.
My biggest beef with “Fantasies” isn’t about
the record at all, but the concert experience I associate with it. I saw them
live on this tour, and the show was one of those ones that is so underwhelming
it sucks some of the future joy out of the studio album. It was at a big
stadium show, and the audience were the most singularly out-of-time crowd I’ve
ever seen, as they danced off the beat and sang along out of time. Many were
clearly there for the experience, and not the band. Metric tried, but far away
as they were, even they didn’t have the gravitas to ground the experience.
I wouldn’t go see Metric alive again, but “Fantasies”
remains a solid record. I don’t put it on often, but it remains a keeper.
Best tracks: Help I’m Alive, Sick Muse, Stadium Love
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