Yet the Toronto band had already arrived at a desirable locale, professionally speaking. After a few early hiccups with record companies, Metric have been releasing their own music since Fantasies in 2009, running their business without interference from a label, or anyone else. Not only has it given the foursome a rare measure of independence—true indie-rock—in an industry where control is currency, the absence of outside pressure is surely prominent among the reasons for Metric’s continuity.
Then came the pandemic and, without the ability to head out on tour, a measure of enforced inactivity, which shifted the band’s focus. Released in 2022, Formentera tapped into the socially aware side that has always run through Metric’s music, while the sequel, 2023’s Formentera II, tilted the balance toward the emotional and psychological aftermath of global upheaval. Romanticize the Dive feels like the album where Metric acknowledge just how important their self-sufficiency has been. Or, as Haines sings on the opening track, “Baby, I’m free.”
On that song, “Victim of Luck,” Haines wonders whether the title applies to her. Is the band’s success over the years the result of luck? Metric’s 10th album considers that idea on 11 songs about perseverance and the freedom to experiment, and fail, as part of finding oneself. It’s a retrospective album, in the sense that Romanticize the Dive is built out of all the twists and turns that have led Metric to the present. It is not, however, merely a retread of the band’s previous work, but another milemarker on Metric’s road forward.
“Victim of Love” starts things off with a huge hook from Haines—the kind you’ll find running through your head when you wake up in the middle of the night—over rolling synthesizers and a dance-ready beat. Later, the stuttering bump of the bass drum steers “Tremolo” through iridescent shafts of reverberating guitar from Shaw while Haines alternates between a reflective murmur and letting her voice grow in power on the chorus. Motorik synths flicker through “Crush Forever,” where Haines’ vocals have a rhythmic, autonomic quality on the verse and float like a ghostly afterimage on the chorus as she imparts life advice to younger versions of herself: “trouble in a tight black dress.”
Metric wrap up Romanticize the Dive with “Leave You on a High,” an anthem of optimism that lives up to the title with a vocal melody that soars over the clang of Shaw’s guitars and a booming rhythm from Winstead on bass and Scott Key on drums. “To hold a grudge is the lowest crutch, so go big and stay high,” Haines sings. That line is perhaps the implicit answer to the question that Haines posed at the other end of the album, when she wondered about being a victim of luck. The answer is clear: yes, and also no. Bands don’t stick around for as long as Metric have without a measure of luck. But that’s not enough on its own: it has also taken drive, dedication and a willingness to think big—qualities that Metric have shown all along. [Metric Music International]
Eric R. Danton has been contributing to Paste since 2013. His work has also appeared in Rolling Stone, The Wall Street Journal, the Boston Globe and Pitchfork, among other publications. He writes Freak Scene, a newsletter about music in Western Massachusetts and Connecticut.
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