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By Nick Christian Canada’s contribution to international music is not one to be shouted from the rooftops. Although Barenaked Ladies, Alanis Morrisette and Nelly Furtado are more or less passable, there are two names in particular that any self-respecting Canadian would eagerly erase from the national CV: Bryan Adams and the equine, Titanic-sinking Celine Dion. At least, that seemed to be the case until a couple of short years ago when a few womble-like creatures began to poke their head out of the earth to start snuffling around the leafy musical woodland. The New Pornographers, Leslie Feist and Hot Hot Heat have all made inroads into the peripheries of indie-pop, while there was no hipper indie record released last year than The Arcade Fire’s Funeral. The latest in this line is Metric: A band you probably haven’t of. Yet. Emerging from the same circles that gave us Stars and Broken Social Scene, singer/keyboardist Emily Haines and guitarist James Shaw first laid the foundations for Metric after meeting in the late 90’s, each discovering in the other a musical symbiosis neither had previously found elsewhere. The collection of demos that emerged from this partnership was, ironically, called The Mainstream E.P. Fusing the sensibilities of true indie with 80’s new wave and the vibrant dynamics of electro-pop, the record didn’t come close to fitting into the mainstream. It also went deliberately against the grain of the contemporaneous alternative scene; although dangling tantalisingly above the jaws of various labels – even resulting in the duo taking up temporary residence in London in 2000 - none of them really snapped. The band continued to evolve, adding drummer Joules Scott-Key and bassist Josh Winstead to the line-up. As indie music was once again emerging into the fabric of popular consciousness, a fully formed Metric released debut album Old World Underground, Where Are You Now? in 2003. A silent killer, the record was critically lauded in Canada, but with limited distribution outside their home country the international limelight was not ready to shine. Not until this year’s follow-up Live It Out, released over here on pocket-sized indie label Drowned In Sound, did they begin to perk up British ears. An album for all occasions, the magic of Metric’s music lies in its uncompromising juxtaposition of different moods and styles, deftly balancing indietronic experimentalism and innovation with accessible pop sensibilities and Depeche Mode-esque darkness. While some songs seem to float gently downstream with ambient ease others thrash violently through a torrent of white water electro-rock. A ‘conjoined disparateness’ is how one sharp-eared critic described it. Touring
incessantly for the past two and a half years, the band made their first
stop in Brighton in late Spring for The Great Escape festival. They liked
it so much that they recently returned to pay us another visit and O.I.B.
were there to welcome them back. |
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(Still) Staring at the Rude Boys |
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WHEN
OIB MET METRIC