Metric/ Grow Up and Blow Away

If You Like: Garbage, Shinny Toy Guns, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Portishead
Release Date: June 26, 2007 (Last Gang Records)


Metric is formed by Toronto based Emily Haines (vocals/guitar/synthesizer), James Shaw (guitar/theremin), Josh Winstead (bass), and Joules Scott-Key (drums). They originally recorded Grow Up and Blow Away in 2001, but it was never released. Trailing the recording of Old World Underground, Where are you now? (2003) and Live It Out (2005) with Last Gang records, the band completed Grow Up And Blow Away in 2007. The album's steady beats and jazzy rhythms make it easy to groove to. Emily Hanes' sultry voice complements the erotic themes suggested in the lyrics. The sexy swank in "Raw Sugar", "Soft Rock Star", and "The Twist" give the album a deep, chic vibe. Their lyrics suggest that some of the most important lessons come from prepubescent times; that everything in adulthood is still considered 'school yard, junior high style.' The choruses in "Hardwire" and "On The Sly" create a hypnotic state, where the listeners' only defense is to press play.

1. "Grow Up and Blow Away"
2. "Hardwire"- 'You are everything you are nothing at all' 'Stay focused on the first boring morning though we both see it coming, we don't run. Let the silence settle in our bones'
3. "Rock Me Now"- 'Everybody else just arrived, ate their complimentary shrimp cocktails, and left.'
4. "The Twist"- 'The rhythm of a strangers skin'
5. "On the Sly"
6. "Soft Rock Star"-'Who were you after you were mine'
7. "Raw Sugar"- 'I don't want to die living in a high rise grave'
8. "White Gold"- 'We're here for the porn or the sirloin' 'Lose friends to the airwaves and the airlines' 'call me when you get better at your game you haven't beat me yet'
9. "London Halflife"
10. "Soft Rock Star"