Synthetica is Toronto synth rockers Metric’s fifth studio album and their first outing since 2009’s much-lauded Fantasies. While it isn’t without its charms, it rarely lives up to singer Emily Haines’ lofty promise of existential exploration and the like.
The album, she confided on the band’s website, is “about staying home and wanting to crawl out of your skin from the lack of external stimulation... about forcing yourself to confront what you see in the mirror when you finally stand still long enough to catch a reflection”. That’s one helluva manifesto. And there are flashes of contemplative, synthy brilliance – ‘Dreams So Real’ kicks off with heavy bass, gradually building beneath Haines’ hypnotic (and somewhat depressing) refrain of “I’ll shut up and carry on/ A scream becomes a yawn”. Similarly, summery pop tune ‘Clone’ explores regret and loss: “Back to that photograph/ Can you clone me?/ I look like everyone you know now/ It’s too late in the day”. ‘Breathing Underwater’, meanwhile, is Metric at their finest as proponents of anthemic, hook-laden synth rock.
However, the album veers into samey territory towards the end. ‘Lost Kitten’ feels like an over-vampy Goldfrapp outtake, while ‘The Void’ and title track ‘Synthetica’ lack ‘oomph’. Worth checking out, but not their finest work.