CD of The Week

When we last heard from Metric, they took us on a two-part trip to the island of Formentera, escaping from the COVID pandemic years to somewhere better via hope and music. Now the veteran Canadian indie rock act is back with their 10th record, Romanticize the Dive, looking back to their past while keeping one eye on the future.

The album’s title has a double meaning, as it could mean to fondly remember their “indie sleaze” days in dive bars or to romanticize a fall or down time in life. Lead single “Victim of Luck” takes Metric back to their beginnings, as Emily Haines sings about how “I was a starving artist but I was fearless” and asks if the band’s success makes her a “victim of luck.” Yet it’s also a call to "live my life like it's never been done." Built on a great bass line from Joshua Winstead, “Wild Rut” dives into the crazy world we're living in now, “when everything started to look like I imagined / in a horror movie set in the immediate future, so frustrated in a wild rut.”

“Time is a Bomb” is a fun, flirty, and very catchy track, where Emily plays with multiple meanings of the line "I am always up/I am always down." And the electro-dance cut “Crush Forever” would’ve fit on Pagans in Vegas. Haines calls it “my love letter to strong girls in this world” as she acts a wise older sister watching the younger generation: “I pass the torch, pay my respects to trouble in a tight black dress.”

The moody “Tremolo” is asking big questions but pushes them aside (for now) to hit the dance floor. “As If You're Here” comes off as bright and shiny '80s synth rock but actually is a sad ode to a lost friend: “so it's just goodbye now my dear friend / and it's all I'd give to see you again / but it's all I have, this song you'll never hear.” There’s some LCD Soundsystem influence in “Loyal” and the intro to “Antigravity” could be mistaken for Future Islands.

Romanticize the Dive appropriately ends with “Leave You on a High.” With its atmospheric Cure-esque vibes, Haines advises, “so go big and stay high / or your mind can get so small.” All in all, Romanticize the Dive lands in the category of Metric albums that lean more on keyboards and atmosphere than Jimmy Shaw’s big guitar riffs. But with all its looking back and this song title closing the album, let’s hope it’s not the band’s way of saying goodbye!

Metric will hit the road in a triple bill of Canadian indie rock royalty, alongside lifelong pals Broken Social Scene and Stars, on a tour that comes to The Met in Philadelphia on July 28th.