Featuring the surprise runaway hit 'Help I'm Alive', Fantasies is the fourth studio album from Canada's Metric. We spoke to vocalist and keyboardist Emily Haines in New York.
yourGigs (yG): You released Fantasies independently, what influenced that decision?
Emily Haines (EH): We had a lot of options on the table because we had accomplished quite a bit with Live It Out, even though it was a more difficult record, and perhaps people didn't want to hear ... more songs about being anti-war right at the height of the Bush administration. [We] took meetings with heads of all the major labels in the US ... and just came to the conclusion that, while they can all sort of fund things, they couldn't really offer us what we needed. We actually learnt a lot about how the music business works and we couldn't enter into that kind of contract, so we set about finding a different way of doing it.
yG: Tell me about this "campfire test" approach you had to the songwriting on this record.
EH: One of the goals of this record was to achieve something sonically that we haven't done before and to create this kind of dreamy sound ... We realised that what we wanted to do sonically was incompatible with complex arrangements and chord structures and difficult progressions. We looked at some of the classic, amazing, best songs of all time by legendary musicians and we were appalled, and amazed, to learn that all of them had four chords and they were all in C. So what we decided to do was try playing the parts on acoustic guitar and we decided if they couldn't stand on their own based on that, they wouldn't make it on the record.
yG: What are the songs on Fantasies about?
EH: I think the title ... is an examination of the line between fantasy and reality, and participant and spectator, and where we fall within that; and the idea that fantasy is amazing, it's a dream, it's something you can envision and work towards in the concrete world, but there's also the more sinister side where you can be living in a fantasy and have no dreams. You always need to have something in your imagination to feel alive - certainly I do. The concept of understanding what it all means: we try not to pin it down, it's totally open to interpretation, and whatever anybody wants to hear in there, as far as I'm concerned, it's there.
yG: Why did you decide to release 'Help I'm Alive' as a single?
EH: Well we actually didn't. Which is one of the strangest things, and we'll always remember this experience, it's one of the most magical things that has ever happened to us creatively. We had booked a tour in Canada last December and decided as a sort of preview to our fans ... we would print just one song on vinyl, 'Help I'm Alive'.
It leaked and one of the first stations to pick up the leaked song was Triple J in Australia. At first we were like "What's going on?", but then we realised what's going on is amazing and it actually gave the song a chance. I think just because it just happened naturally, it's gone on to become the best performing song we've ever done. It's an amazing phenomenon but it wasn't something that we planned.
yG: Metric are coming to Australia for Parklife, a festival which began as a pure dance music festival up until recently. How do you feel Metric fits into that spectrum?
EH: We have always been an electro band ... It's a fashionable time for synthesisers in the world and that's fine with us. I think it's great that the festival is diversifying the kind of music that people are able to hear and I'm sure they did that for a reason. No matter how much you love a certain genre, part of going to a festival is, for most people, a chance to hear something you might not always hear. You can hear Metric and then you get to hear MSTRKRFT, and I think that's kinda cool.
yG: There seems to be a trend with Canadian musicians playing across several different projects. What is it about playing in multiple bands that appeals to you?
EH: It's an attitude towards music that's less competitive and more collaborative, and I think it ends up making more interesting music. Jimmy [Shaw] and I are both founding members of Broken Social Scene, just 'cause we've all known each other since we were 15 years old. When you look at the life of a musician, I think it's actually more odd if they don't play with other musicians. It's a natural instinct to learn from other people and enjoy your life as a musician without being too uptight about it.
yG: How did you get involved with the Scott Pilgrim vs. the World film?
EH: We're really excited about a song being used in a Scott Pilgrim/Edgar Wright movie, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, which has got Michael Cera in it. Edgar Wright just contacted us and asked us to be part of it because the graphic novel on which the film is based has a character that is based on me. It comes out in 2010.
yG: And lastly - who would you rather be: the Beatles or the Rolling Stones?
EH: Ah ... The Kinks!
Michelle Ho
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