ALBUM REVIEWS

Metric FANTASIES METRIC MUSIC INTERNATIONAL / PIAS 27.4.09 @www.vanguard-online.co.uk Like they sing in Help I’m Alive, “check my pulse”. And if you haven’t got the single wedged in your head, check YOUR pulse – you may be dead. For a band on their fourth album, Metric sound like they are surfing the front of the current golden age of electropop. This is classic pop, pushed to higher intensity by electric impulses. Not that guitars are banned and bits of it recall the needling melodies of Garbage. Whereas Sick Muse, only the second track, is fuzzed up and turned up beyond Shirley Manson’s dreams. Satellite Dreams is a good ‘un and Twilight Galaxy manages to be nostalgic and wistful whilst impelling the legs to shift, shift, shift. Fighting the urge to just list each track and say how good it is, this album goes on surprising with what appears to be prospective single after single. It seems to inhabit a nexus point where electric beat, live drums, electronics, guitars and pop-rock meet. Songs seem to be uniformly memorable and varied in pace and texture, all with the sexy, slightly breathy vocals of Emily Haines. Not many bands manage to be cool and popular but a lucky few do. Metric are one of those. Soundtrack to the summer. Ross McGibbon www.ilovemetric.com Email Links & Comments to the editor Check the latest album releases