Ottawa XPress - Music - Spin - Live it out

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October 13th, 2005
Metric - (Last Gang)

Live it out
Brendan Murphy

If you're like me, you liked some songs from Metric's debut and found the rest smelling slightly of new wave gimmickry. If so, it's a good thing you stuck around for their second, Live It Out, which takes all that potential and goes further than expected. The sound here still rides the upbeat rhythms of the last (check Poster of a Girl), but guitarist Jimmy Shaw lays down increasingly awesome guitar work over more maturely realized lyrics. And how's our favourite first lady Emily Haines doing? Pleine forme, ma belle, pleine forme. While everyone is going on about their first single Monster Hospital, for me it's Police and the Private that the band allows to stay in gorgeous mid-flight, and that really shows the huge potential of Metric. Thank the Lord that our new Canadian female icons are more Feist and Haines than Celine and Shania.


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Album review - Metric - Live It Out

I kept asking myself what explained this band's growth in popularity. This is the band that quickly sold out Club Soda last year, came back and played to a jammed pack Metropolis earlier this year to finally headline the mega Dog Day Afternoon at the Jacques Cartier Pier next month. I only knew the band from songs "Dead Disco" and "Poster of a Girl" that are good songs but nothing great enough to proclaim them the next Canadian indie saviours of rock.

Nevertheless, I wanted to give Live it Out a listen given the fact that I will be attending the festival. If anything, Live it Out proves that this band merits the hoopla it has been receiving this past year. When a song forces me to revisit my musical history I know there is something to the music. This happened with their single "Monster Hospital". Obviously, the song's lyric I fought the war / but the war won is a homage to The Cricket's "I fought the Law" that has been covered many times but made popular but The Bobby Fuller Four in 1966. Keep listening to "Monster Hospital" and you'll then hear "Monster Movie, Daddy Warbucks up against Bobby Fuller /And he beat him hands down". It all comes full circle. Awesome!

I have to agree this album sounds like Metric is finally discovering its sound by relying less on the new wave synthesizer sound that is much more predominant on Old World Underground, Where Are You Now? I have even grown to love Emily Haines' sexy and sultry voice that not only complements the Metric sound but also has become THE Metric sound. A barrier only female rockers PJ Harvey and Karen O have been able to break down in my case.

Ronny Pangia

June 19th, 2006

Climbing the Metric Scale

What I absolutely love about Metric besides the fact that Emily has one of the most beautiful voices I've heard in a long time and the fact that they're Canadian, I love how Metric are full of truth. I love how they dare to sing about issues that not only does no one else seem to touch upon, but issues that no one would ever dream of bringing up. I love how Metric has the ability to brilliantly combine dance pop with guitar-driven rock. Emily doesn't whine her way through songs, but she calmly and soothingly goes along with the beats, hence making Metric one of the very few listenable female fronted bands of today.

After the politically-driven dance/rock anthem Combat Baby and the chilling Calculation Theme off of their first album, Live It Out has that same kind of passion and uniqueness that defines Metric, but this one's much more rock based. Straight off the bat with Empty, we're reminded slightly of IOU off of Old World Underground and it starts off slow-paced, something Metric is known for. Just as we're getting into the sluggish vibe, the heavy guitar interrupts it and we're thrown into a hard rock trance for the remaining 3 minutes.

The first single Monster Hospital which speaks of a war, both a literal and a metaphorical one, continues with the political theme that we first encounter on the first record. The smartly gender-themed Poster of a Girl and Patriarch On a Vespa duel it out on the album, and in Poster, Emily lets it all hang out even further as she introduces the idea of "coming in your pants for the off chance with a ... poster of a girl". There's no holding back for this quartet who continue to haunt us with Ending Start and grab us with the catchy Glass Ceiling.

If Metric keeps creating fantastic tunes, mixing them with the honesty and originality they've brought to us up until now, they have the definite potential to stick around for years to come. And I sure as hell hope that someday soon they'll get the massive hype they deserve.

Vanessa Hasid

{11 votes}

October 17th, 2005

Apples and oranges

While not a fan of either Céline or Shania, I always cringe when I read a review which makes gratuitous swipes at national success stories, because it just wouldn't be cool to show even a smidge of appreciation for anything that's both Canadian and popular. Such a reference wasn't necessary since we're talking about two entirely different niches here--it's like griping about k.d. lang in the middle of a Snitches review. Reminds me of a skit from This Hour Has 22 Minutes which showed smug intellectuals grumbling through the ages against any local personality who made it big, from Toronto-born actress Mary Pickford all the way to, well, Céline. "Putting down our own: a proud part of our heritage," the tagline read. Apparently, that's still true today.

Charles Montpetit

October 17th, 2005

Live it Out-More Mature

Metric's second full length album (third in total) is a much more mature and sophisticated album then their previous. It doesn't live up to Static Anonymity (the first almost totally forgotten about EP by Metric), but has some really catchy tunes.

Seeing them play their new stuff live was quite the experience. Emily Haines's dancing and James Shaw's breathtaking guitar playing make for quite the show. Really looking forward to seeing what they do next.

Dave Zarboni

{3 votes}

October 16th, 2005

Live It Out's absolutely sublime

I had my doubts about how the new Metric would play out, since only the catchiest tunes on "Old World" became singles. However, Metric has indeed come forth with their second full length album with a more mature, fuller sound. Haines has demonstrated that she can be depended on for smart, makes-you-think lyrics -- something that's lacking in a lot of todays popular music.

My favourite, after only the first pass in the CD player, is Police and the Private. This track definitely grabbed my attention and Haines' delivery is wonderful! Other fave picks are Glass Ceiling and Handshake... Metric's going places. 'Nuff said.

Cynthia Eng

{3 votes}

October 15th, 2005

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