“Synethica” by Metric: An original in a synthetic world

Sarah Homet
Contributing Writer

3.5 out of 5 stars

With blunt honesty and a futuristic growl, Canadian band Metric’s fifth studio album, “Synethica” demands attention from the start, beckoning listeners to take an introspective journey with them through rocky pop riffs and energy-driven melancholia.

Lead singer Emily Haines, whose side projects include Explosions In The Sky and Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton, wrote on the band’s website about the new album: “Synthetica” 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…about being able to identify the original in a long line of reproductions. It’s about what is real versus what is artificial.”

The first single “Youth Without Youth,” as she goes on to say on the website, examines the “fraying social state” in a world overrun by screens. Haines raises the question of what of the raw and real heart still remains underneath an information flooded society which, ironically, lacks life and stimulation.

In “Breathing Underwater,” the authentic life within the synthetic seems to be starved of the true life it needs. And in “Artificial Nocturne,” Haines sings, “Got false lights for the sun, it’s an artificial nocturne. It’s an outsider’s escape from a broken heart.”

Haines’ darker tone proclaims a message of lungs being flooded by artificial light and a life temporarily starved, forcing a deep examination of the life within her.

Metric’s unique raw sound mixed in a futuristic way, like the album’s theme, almost ironically grasps the ‘synthetic,’ and turns it around into something more original. In a synthetic world, perhaps this is all the individual can do.

The album lags at certain points as riffs become monotonous, especially in tracks like “Clone.” However, the record deserves the attention it demands.

Though not as gripping as 2009 album “Fantasies”, the winner of the Juno Award for Alternative Album of the Year, “Synthetica” is not a disappointment, and is a smooth and catchy listen. The production in its entirety holds true to Metric’s signature sound and trademark anthems of melancholia.

On an interesting note in its theme, however, cynicism is not only addressed and melancholy not only wailed, but is flipped into a certain maturity. Rather than a complaint or just another whiny pop record, it is capped off with confidence and progressive positivity.

In one of the album’s standout tracks, “Wanderlust,” Haines does not claim a happy ending or a dead end. Rather, she maturely admits she is on a personal journey to a place she has not yet found. In a soaring, bittersweet note, she concludes, “I got nothing but time, so the future is mine.”

Topping the record off with the title track, “Synthetica,” Haines asserts her individuality as the chaos embraces her identity, singing “We’re all the time confined to fit the mold, but I won’t ever let them make a loser of my soul.”

The record is an exploration into a person’s past mistakes and motivations that have led them to who and where they are. It is full of anthems about the strength and individuality that comes from fighting to keep the life underneath the synthetic alive, and the lessons learned through this journey.

The themes are easy to relate to in the society in which we all reside, through the trials we all face: This is what makes “Synthetica” truly worth a listen. More than a declaration, it is a lesson Haines believes many could benefit from today.

She could be right.