With their eagerly anticipated new album coming September 21st, METRIC have released the first single from it “Dark Saturday”, available on all streaming platforms now.
For the first time in 3 albums, guitarist Jimmy Shaw did not co-produce, preferring to hand over the production mantle to first time collaborator Justin Meldal-Johnsen who has previously worked with M83, Beck and Nine Inch Nails to name only a few. The album, which was recorded in METRIC’s own Giant Studio in Toronto, was also mixed by first time collaborator Tony Hoffer, whose countless credits include Phoenix, Depeche Mode and Air.
“Justin was just what we needed in a producer for this album”, says Jimmy. “He really saw every band member eye to eye and was able to capture what we each do best. It was something I realized I couldn’t do at this stage, having been in the band for so long. We were finally able to focus on just playing again, as we did at the start. Making this album brought us together in a way we hadn’t been for quite some time and I think you can hear it in the music.”
“This is our seventh album as a band”, says iconic frontwoman Emily Haines, “and we wanted the first song people heard from it to be “Dark Saturday” as a sonic heads up that our guitars are back in force. Lyrically, the song depicts a dystopian night life scene of gaudy wealth where oblivious party girls say nauseating things like, ‘I’m so rich everything’s free.’”
On July 12th METRIC kicked off a 38-date run of live performances in arenas across North America as special guests on the reunion tour of alternative rock legends Smashing Pumpkins. Tickets are available from www.ilovemetric.com/tour/
METRIC play the following UK dates in November as part of their European tour:
November
Sat 17th BIRMINGHAM, O2 Institute 2
Sun 18th GLASGOW, Queen Margaret Union
Mon 19th MANCHESTER, O2 Ritz
Tues 20th LONDON, O2 Kentish Town Forum
Lyrical excerpt of “Dark Saturday”:
Somewhere in the south of France, or the Caribbean Sea, she said, “I don’t need to make a living, fake diamonds got nothing on me”. I met her in the world below, she’s a tourist of the world beneath. I said, “Everything I built from nothing.” She said, “I’m so rich everything’s free.” So dark it ain’t so dark.
Forever and never, a torch in search of a flame. To be good, get better. I change by staying the same. Forever and never, a night in search of a day. As anxious as ever, it’s such a Dark Saturday.
What’s your name and where you from? Well I’m worth your weight in gold. While we lie here in the sun, the whole wide world’s about to explode. Now our bodies intertwine, and the truth is plain to see. I said, “Everything I built from nothing.” She said, “Don’t you blame your problems on me.”
A “Dark Saturday” music video directed by long-time collaborator Justin Broadbent and shot on the fly with nothing more than an iPhone X was also released today – watch it HERE. “The band and I agreed that shooting on an iPhone would be a good way to immediately connect a visual style to the authentic feeling of this record”, said Broadbent. “Because it was a ‘run and gun’ style video, we needed our footprint to be tiny and quick but the video quality still needed to be high. I think this also let the band relax, not having a huge camera and lights around while allowing me the freedom to try things on the fly. Even the design of the final video looks like four separate screens magically lining up together.”
All pre-orders come with an immediate instant-grat download of “Dark Saturday” and will ship to arrive in time for release day. A minimum of 2 additional instant-grat tracks will be available for download prior to that. Fans who pre-order the album early will receive a signed, limited edition “Dark Saturday” 7” flexi-disc vinyl with their purchase at no extra cost, available only while supplies last.
