A ton of Metric-related news was just sent our way, so lets start with the new album. Yes, after tons of touring and the release of frontwoman Emily Haines’ solo album, the band is currently in pre-production at Giant Studios in Toronto on their next long player. They began work on the new songs last November, marking the first true band collaboration in their history, as up until now the tunes were always penned by Haines and Jimmy Shaw.
The four-piece started on the new songs at Bear Creek Studios, which Haines believes had an important effect on the sound of the songs. She said: “Being isolated in the woods at Bear Creek helped to inspire the vibe for these first songs that we wrote together. We went for a warm sound, using a lot of vintage instruments.” As for the songs being worked on in Toronto, she added: “The writing went in a much more electronic, beat-driven direction. One of the major changes was that [bassist Josh Winstead] started writing our basslines on the synth rather than the on the bass, which completely changed the tone of the new material.”
Going from brand new Metric to very old material, the band is finally giving their debut album, Grow Up And Blow Away, a proper release. Although it was sold at early shows, the actual release was shelved due to label restructuring back in ‘01. Last Gang Records will put the album in stores on June 26, and two weeks earlier on iTunes.
We’ll wrap things up with a bit of news from Emily Haines and The Soft Skeleton, who will be releasing an EP on May 22. Titled What Is Free To A Good Home, it includes five previously unreleased tracks from the recording sessions from the Knives album. It was also feature a the TodorK remix of the album track “Mostly Waving.” Below is the EP’s complete tracklisting.
What Is Free To A Good Home
01. “Rowboat”
02. “The Bank”
03. “Telethon”
04. “Bottom Of The World”
05. “Sprig”
06. “Mostly Waving” (TodorK remix)
Grow Up And Blow Away
01. “Grow Up”
02. “Hardwire”
03. “Rock Me Now”
04. “The Twist”
05. “On The Sly”
06. “Soft Rock Star”
07. “Raw Sugar”
08. “White Gold”
09. “London Half-Life”
10. “Soft Rock Star” (Jimmy vs. Joe Mix)
