Album Review

Metric – Gimme Sympathy

• 25th Jul 2009

It is a wonder why other bands who suffer from getting too involved in the band that tensions start to arise, don’t do a Metric and go off and experiment in solo, work and ranging side projects including the fresh and vibrant Juno sound-tracking, Broken Social Scene.

This is in the case of singer Emily Haines and guitarist James Shaw, not to mention Bang Lime, the hobby horse of drummer Joules Scott-Key and bassist, Josh Winstead. The freshness in vibe and approach in recent album ‘Fantasies’, of which the stirring 80s pop soiree ‘Gimme Sympathy’ is a prize plum, represents a great argument for allowing each artist in a group to wander and experiment.

It’s difficult to stop yourself shuddering on hearing the first few notes of this stirring single sung by the poet’s daughter, Haines. It possesses the provocative swagger that Karen-O so often uses to create a swooning and lurid impact. However, the electro kick soon gets fussier and the rat-a-tat percussion makes the perfect background for the vocals to slow down. Effectively underlining the copy-cat decrying and thought provoking lyrics;

“Who’d you rather be; The Beatles or The Rolling Stones? Ooohhh Seriously, you’re gonna make mistakes you know?”

The quick tempo, catchy spurts give a hint as to why they were good tour mates for The Killers recently. Metric, if anything has an extra spring in their step now and this will surely take them even further forward, but there’s sure to be a few side (project) steps along the way too.