METRIC - ROMANTICIZE THE DIVE
Somewhere between the recording of their long-shelved 2001 debut, Grow Up and Blow Away, and the release of their 2003 album, Old World Underground, Where Are You Now?, Canadian indie outfit Metric established themselves as a force to be reckoned with. The participation of both vocalist Emily Haines and guitarist Jimmy Shaw on the seminal 2002 Broken Social Scene Album, You Forgot it in People, certainly helped give them some much needed indie cred, but Metric have always been a band with their sights set on bigger things. Nowhere was this more evident than when their songs started showing up regularly in television series such as Grey's Anatomy and on film soundtracks ranging from Twilight: Eclipse to Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. Throughout all the various levels of exposure and, at times, over-exposure, Metric have always managed to put the music first.
On their tenth album, Romanticize the Dive, the band have wisely returned to longtime producer Gavin Brown, who was at the helm of both 2009's Fantasies and 2012's Synthetica, to create a nostalgic, career-defining album that looks back fondly at the band's past while keeping one eye fixed firmly on the future. Lead single and album-opening "Victim of Luck" succinctly sums up the band's existential crisis ten albums into their career: "I was a starving artist, but I was fearless. Now I don't know what we are." The answer, of course, is one of the most successful Canadian indie bands to still be actively recording and touring a quarter-century into their career, well beyond the shelf-life of most of their peers from the early 2000's. Over the course of the ten songs that follow, the band succinctly demonstrate why Metric remain a household name in 2026.
Haines' exploration of the band's unlikely success is further explored on the standout track "Tremolo," hypothesizing: "Why didn't I take another path at the crossroads? Crystal ball nobody can see ... Circumstance is a bastard, dance with me." As if exploring a form of survivor's guilt as to why the band still exist when many of their peers failed to survive beyond the initial hype surrounding the "indie sleaze" movement at the turn of the century, she ultimately seems to have made an uneasy peace with her reality.
Despite the fact that lyrically this album is focused in large part on the band's past, the most interesting musical developments can be found on the forward-looking material, such as "Crush Forever," which is arguably the closest the band have ever come to producing a pure EDM club song. Recalling echoes of Crystal Castles' 2008 self-titled debut, this is seemingly a case of the band embracing the influence of bands that were likewise influenced directly by Metric. Similarly, the excellent "Moral Compass" immediately recalls the title title track from Islands' 2021 Islomania. Metric took a chance on Nick Thorburn's then-unknown post-Unicorns band back in 2006 as tour openers in support of Live it Out, and the gamble clearly paid off.
By the time album-closer "Leave You on a High" pours through the speakers, Haines & Co. bring the energy level right down after ten high-energy electro-pop songs. Having examined the band's success from every possible angle, Haines succinctly sums up her thoughts on the matter, asserting that "to hold a grudge is the lowest crutch/ So go big and stay high, or your mind can get so small." As Metric embark on their largest North American tour in years with their Toronto indie rock peers Broken Social Scene and Stars, it's safe to say that Metric are still going big and staying high.
-Leks Maltby