Quick Before it Melts

Monday 06 April 2009

Help, I’m alive

In our fantasy worlds, we can be superhuman.  We can fly, see through walls, know what’s going to happen to us before it actually occurs; we can manipulate space and time so that we make the choices that, in hindsight, we know may have changed our fortunes and given us a greater sense of accomplishment.  Fantasies are great because everything is possible, everything is within reach, everything is our for the taking.

I don’t know about you, but most of my fantasies don’t ever seem to go the way I want them to.  Even in my fantasy world, reality invades like a plague, not allowing my imagination to go all the way, reminding me subconsciously that things are never going to happen like I want them to.  Does that mean that having fantasies is just a fantasy in itself?  Or does that mean that I’m not allowing myself the freedom to let go of reality?  Am I a glutton for pleasure punishment?  Am I just afraid to take risks and put true desires out into the world, lest I fail?

What about Metric?  They’ve named their new album Fantasies, but throughout it they make mention of just how society suppresses our dreams and ambitions,  Case in point, “Twilight Galaxy”: “Did they tell you/you should grow up/when you wanted to dream?/Did they warn you/better shape up/if you want to succeed?/I don’t know about you/who are they talking to/they’re not talking to me.”  Clearly not everyone is afraid to cross the divide and bring their fantasy world into their reality, and as Emily Haines points out, she’s alright for having done so.  Her biggest risk in writing Fantasies with her band-mates Jimy Shaw, Joules Scott-Key, and Josh Winstead was having to follow up the widely successful Live It Out and live up to the expectations of their fans and the music world alike.

Throughout their career trajectory, it’s never been black and white with Metric:  are they a mainstream act with indie credibility, or an indie act looking at making a name for themselves in the pop music world?  Too mainstream for the independent scene, too wild and rough for the pop world, Metric seem to have etched out an existence between the fantasy world of fame and stardom and the reality of working day in and out on the road, promoting albums and winning over new fans.  By all accounts, Fantasies should be the album that crosses over this divide and brings Metric fame and international acclaim.  It is full of single-worthy music that embraces beat and melody; dance and rock; indie spirit and pop ambition; fan worship and stadium love.  It sounds big, bold, and ballsy.  It’s also intricate, abstract, and artistic.  It’s the very dichotomy of their position in the Canadian and international music scene.  It neither makes a grab for the success that’s eluded them, nor alienates those who would thrust it upon them.

So what’s the score, then?  By all accounts, the ball is squarely in Metric’s court.  They’ve freed themselves from record company control and have opted to release the album themselves in most international markets (they’re sticking with Last Gang Records in Canada).  Moments like “Collect Call” and the aforementioned “Twilight Galaxy” demonstrate restraint and poise, never spiralling into easy anthemic rock territory when it’s not actually necessary.  On the other hand, “Help I’m Alive” and the new single “Gimme Sympathy” effortlessly gets indie boys and girls pogoing in their arena seats, fists aloft, pumping in sync with one of modern music’s tightest rhythm sections.  As a whole though, Fantasies isn’t an album designed to please fans or critics–it is clearly music for those who are making it, which saves the album from pretentiousness and bombast.  Haines’ personal life has been a roller coaster ride since the last Metric album, some of which she’s dealt with on her own solo releases, but you don’t ever recover from the death of a parent, do you?  Life doesn’t go back to “normal”; you have to create a “new normal” that doesn’t look anything like what it once was.   On “Blindness” she sings “I want to leave/but the world won’t let me go” echoing similar experiences of anyone listening.  Even when our greatest fantasies are fulfilled, the reality of living the dream isn’t the bed of roses we envision.  It’s in examining this very notion that Fantasies succeeds.  By not pandering to fulfill our expectations, Metric has created a piece of art that is accessible, thoughtful, and provocative.

Help, I’m alive, and loving it.  Help, I’m alive and scared shitless.  Help, I’m alive, my heart keeps beating like a hammer.

MP3: Metric “Gimme Sympathy” (link removed by request)
Facebook: Metric
Myspace: Metric
Buy: Metric Fantasies

by J. Di Gioia | 2 Comments »

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