Usually, most
of the music posted here at SOTO is either from albums that are on store
shelves or will be in the coming months. Today though, I'm switching
it up so that I can ramble about Metric's long lost debut
Grow Up And Blow Away. Apparently, the album was all done in
2001 but a label shakeup (Reckless Records was bought by Rykodisc) found it shelved. After that, Emily Haines and James Shaw (they were only
a duo at the time) went about their way and ended up recording a completely
different debut, Old World Underground, Where Are You Now?, with a
couple of new members, Josh Winstead and Joules Scott-Key. It's a
shame that this happened to them, but the disc is here now and they wound up
successful without it, so I suppose it worked out in the
end. Enjoy.
:Metric
- Grow Up And Blow Away:
This sounds like a simplified version of something Stars would do,
especially given atmospheric Emily's delivery is. Personally, it seems
a little weird to me that someone felt that there was no place for a smooth,
modern piece of pop like this, but I suppose this was back before anyone was
too concerned about such sounds (or Stars for that matter). I guess
being ahead of your time doesn't always work out like it should.
:Metric
- Hardwire:
For me, this song is kind of weird. The first part of it features some
fantastic vocal work by
Emily, as she just effortlessly glides from word to word with that endearing
quality that has made hear such a known name over the years. Then,
seemingly out of nowhere, James jumps in and the song quickly shifts and
launches into a fit of late 90s trip hop. It works, but it's such an
unexpected turn that I'm not even sure I've gotten use to it yet.
-
John Laird -
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