1 post tagged “sick muse”
Dear lords, Emily Haines is hot. What the hell is it with me and indie-rock girls? Actually, that's an easy one to answer: I missed out on the whole New Wave scene, but I'm immersed to my neck in its little cousin, the contemporary indie-rock scene. I missed the sound on its first go-around, but I'll be damned if I'm not going to revel in it the second time around!
So anyway, Metric. Really good band. I just discovered them recently, through a friend's suggestion, and...I'm impressed. I haven't heard anything but their latest album Fantasies (the link is to the Amazon page for the CD, but I'd advise purchasing the CD and digital download package directly from the band, as it comes with a lot of great extra stuff and--better still--directly supports them and their music), and I'm seriously impressed. This is the kind of music that I can't get enough of: rock with a danceable edge that manages to be both literary and intellectual and booty-rockin' at the same time.
"Sick Muse" is probably my second favorite track from Fantasies, after "Gold Guns Girls"--but the reason I'm showcasing the former instead of the latter is because "Gold Guns Girls" is a pretty straightfoward song, which "Sick Muse" is a more interesting jam with a chorus that doesn't quite seem to fit with the rest of the song, but it still works perfectly. One of my main problems with a lot of indie rock is that a lot of bands, in their quest to try out new and different chord progressions, create songs that just don't stick with you. Modest Mouse is a great example: whereas "Dashboard" is a headsmashingly awesome jam, most of the other tracks on their latest album are...well, forgettable. Every song on that album is great, but which track sticks in your head and won't leave for a week? "Dashboard." Exactly.
"Sick Muse," despite its somewhat different-sounding chords, is still a memorable song with a highway-driving beat and sizzling guitars. What really makes the song for me, though, is vocalist/songwriter Emily Haines' voice. I'm such a singer for women with thin, etheral voices--hence the reason I love the Sundays so much. In fact, Haines' voice reminds me a lot of Harriet Wheeler's, and Metric's music, too, sounds at times like a sped-up version of the Sundays. Which is just great. And any song whose title is taken from a poem by William Blake is guaranteed to light up the crotchety old English-major in my heart!
