New Metric Album Appeals to Fantasies [well, some anyway]

Sounds Like: The makings for an electro-pop sing-a-long

RIYL: Tegan and Sara, Stars, Feist, Tilly and the Wall

A Few Words: First albums, I'm told, are easy. Sure, you'll be compared to your peers, but that's natural. Subsequent releases, however, are trickier because you're being judged against yourself. When an artist releases a new album, fans have certain expectations. The problem seems to be that each individual fan holds unique hopes for the release. Where one person may hope for the band to go in a new direction, someone else will look forward to more of what the artist previously produced. You see the predicament: no matter what the band pushes out, there will be discontent among the ranks of its audience. All the group can do is create what music is moved from within.

This, of course, assumes the artist or band is creating music and not just chasing singles. I'm just not sure in which direction Metric is moving on Fantasies. Not that writing killer singles is bad, per se. On their previous albums, Metric's power-pop apprach to songwriting has produced multiple infectious tracks. Fantasies doesn't disappoint on this level, either. "Help, I'm Alive" is one of the best pop tracks I've heard since Stars let loose "Take Me to the Riot." And it doesn't stop there. The entire A-Side is stuffed with major-chord-based, synth-backed songs made ever greater by Emily Haines's siren vocals. Unfortunately, the album is thus lopsided as the B-Side struggles to maintain the high standards set by its flip. This imbalance, a microcosm of a band's aforementioned dilemma, appears to be the result of Fantasies trying to appeal to both audience personnas: those seeking a new sound, and those happy with older releases. Whether the album is a success depends on which camp you're in.

Listen to Fantasies in its entirety here:

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