An Interview with Emily Haines of Metric

Metric recently wrapped a U.S. tour in support of their latest LP, Fantasies, which saw them playing in several cities for the first time, gaining traction with new listeners while getting reacquainted with their core fanbase. It'd been almost five years since their last album, Live It Out, and for the Canadian-based indie-rock quartet — frontwoman/keyboardist Emily Haines, guitarist Jimmy Shaw, bassist Josh Winstead, and drummer Joules-Scott Key — their return not only entailed headlining packed venues on their home turf (they sold out two nights at Toronto's storied Massey Hall), but also performing twenty-minute sets on multi-artist bills. "If we want to continue to exist and if we want to continue to really achieve what we [can] as musicians, you can’t always have it be like your aunt and uncle’s in the audience," Haines says. "It’s not going to be your friends from high school the whole time."

Along the way, the band scored a Top 20 hit with "Help I'm Alive," the single garnering an encouraging amount of support from commercial rock radio. And most recently, they released Plug In Plug Out, an EP that showcases five songs from Fantasies in acoustic variations. "It's been a hell of a year," Haines reflects, and in speaking with Donald Gibson of Blogcritics Magazine about Metric's music and her songwriting in particular, she offers insight as to how such was the case.

On Fantasies, there seems to be — I don’t want to say darkness — but some cynicism in context to human connections, love, emotion. Is that accurate?

I would never tell anyone that they couldn’t read whatever they want into the lyrics. I think that’s part of what’s great about music. It’s kind of up for grabs. It’d be no fun if I sent out a pamphlet saying exactly what everything’s supposed to mean. But generally the response has been very interesting and for me, like, an inkblot for a journalist. Because some people, when they hear the record and they see the album work as well, they say, ‘There’s all this dark imagery and sinister undercurrents of superficial things,' and they get a certain darkness from that — which is totally valid.

And alternately, I’ve probably talked to the same number of people who say, ‘There’s a light bulb on the cover of your album. This is the most optimistic and hopeful album Metric has made by a long shot, compared with the preoccupation with deception and the cynical tone of previous albums.’ So I think what’s happening is that we’ve paid a sort of balance right in between there with light and dark. And it’s kind of going to depend on your mood and the timing from where you’re coming at it; certain things will be illuminated. Which makes me happy, because that’s always been our approach to music — that openness to pop sensibilities and the beauty of a three-minute song while also being interested lyrically in more unusual subjects.

Article Author: Donald Gibson

Donald Gibson is the publisher of Write on Music and a freelance music journalist for hire. His work has appeared at No Depression, Spinner, Cinema Blend, The Seattle Post Intelligencer, and Blogcritics. He holds a B.A. in English from the University of South Florida. …

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