Sequels are rarely as good as the first parts – and with the art poppers around Emily Haines they are.
It is remarkable how consistent the quality Metric has been delivering for two decades, and this follow-up to last year’s FORMENTERA is no exception. The Canadians cleverly layer various drafts of indie pop, sometimes insert nervous no-wave patterns into the songs, sometimes devote themselves to textbook ballads, sometimes let themselves drift on wide-rolled synth carpets, and then again guitars in all of them possible shades to bring forward.
The common thread is Haines, who continues to tell stories that have great potential for identification, even if they report on her own life. When, for example, in the, well, power ballad “Who Would You Be For Me”, she talks about her first years in New York, in a tender way and with retrospective astonishment in her voice, about the imponderables and insecurities that her young self was exposed to you’re only too happy to come along.