Download Synthetica

‘Synthetica’
New album released June 25th
July UK shows
Canada’s finest quartet Metric measure up with new album
‘Synthetica’ – their fifth, full-length studio album – released June 25th on
the band’s own label Metric Music International (MMI).
Written by Metric and produced by the band’s drummer Jimmy Shaw,
it balances futuristic cuts and driving beats with organic, guitar-led
melodies.
Minimal opener ‘Artificial Nocturne’ speaks volumes, as Emily Haines’
enigmatic cry fires the pistol for the start of the race with this bold
declaration; “I’m just as fucked up as they say/I can’t fake the
daytime/found an entrance to escape into the dark.”
First single ‘Youth Without Youth’ – out digitally May 1st –tackles the
topic of a fraying social state with bristling energy and lyrical
complexity, before moving through the aqueous swell of a chorus in
‘Breathing Under Water’.
Industrial sounding synths resonate in ‘Dreams So Real’ and Haines’
sweeter side makes an appearance on ‘Lost Kitten’, whereas ‘Clone’
and ‘The Void’ aim for higher electronic ground. That’s not forgetting
the driving force of title track ‘Synthetica’ and ‘Wanderlust’ which
features vocals from Mr. Lou Reed himself.
Shaw says: “It’s the culmination of everything we've done. We've
always had a sound in our heads that we hoped to realize. We finally
heard it coming back out of the speakers this time.”
Thematically, the album covers more than a broad range of topics,
according to Haines. “’Synthetica’ is about insomnia, fucking up,
fashion, all the devices and gadgets attached to our brains, getting
wasted, watching people die in other countries, watching people die in
your own country, dancing your ass off, questioning the cops, poetic
justice, standing up for yourself, sex, the apocalypse…”
P.T.O
Work on ‘Synthetica’ began literally the day after the ‘Fantasies’ tour
ended in Miami at the Art Basel modern art festival in November 2010.
Metric’s Emily Haines, Jimmy Shaw, Joules Scott Key and Joshua
Winstead returned to Giant Studios in Toronto and work on the album
concluded a year later at New York's Electric Lady Studios.
Haines first envisioned the word “Synthetica” as the name for a
particularly resilient skin-job from Blade Runner, a female replicant who
voices an inner monologue of all your human imperfections. "If you
imagine a nightmarishly fake version of me as a pop star, that’s her,”
she says. "And this record was about me saying, I'm going to give more
to the music than ever, but there's no way I'm going to turn into
someone like that."
Metric have sold out arenas and headlined festivals. They’ve had a
hand in scoring films for everyone from Edgar Wright to David
Cronenberg, and they wrote the theme song for the Twilight Saga:
Eclipse soundtrack with composer Howard Shore. They've even
performed their song ‘Gimme Sympathy’ at a private event for The
Queen.
‘Synthetica’ is the follow-up to ‘Fantasies’, which sold over a million
albums/singles worldwide. And if 2009's ‘Fantasies’ was about escaping
the familiar and exploring the world, ‘Synthetica’ is about finding the
courage to stay home and deal with your own reflection in the mirror.
"It’s about facing what you know is true," says Haines.
Metric play:
July
Mon 2nd
Fri 6th
Sat 7th
Sun 8th
LONDON, Shepherds Bush Empire
LONDON, Hyde Park, Wireless Festival
MANCHESTER, HMV Ritz
OXFORD, O2 Academy
http://www.ilovemetric.com/