Metric band news

photo: Justin Broadbent

Canadian group Metric is premiering the track “Now or Never Now” from their forthcoming seventh full-length album Art of Doubt, out Sept. 21 via MMI/Crystal Math Music.

Listen to the track at https://metric.lnk.to/NoNN and share or embed it at https://soundcloud.com/metric-band/now-or-never-now-1.

“When you’re suddenly confronted with the fact that you’re rapidly running out of time to take action in your life, it isn’t always pretty,” Metric front woman Emily Haines explains about the new track.

“You can no longer afford the luxury of words like ‘eventually’ or indulge in the usual superficial fixes. ‘Now or Never Now’ is the song for anyone who has stagnated, paralyzed by past failures, in a state of regret. It’s the song for that point when you realize there’s no escaping what you’re trapped in unless you’re willing to get hurt again. Everything sucks in an exhilarating way. There’s nothing left to do but start over.”

In addition to the album title, artwork and newest single, the band is also revealing the full Art of Doubt track list; see below for full details. The album is now available for digital pre-order at https://metric.lnk.to/artofdoubt.

The “Now or Never Now” premiere comes on the heels of the Justin Broadbent-directed video for the album track “Dressed to Suppress;” watch/share the video https://metric.lnk.to/DressedtoSuppressVideo and listen to the track at https://metric.lnk.to/dressedtosuppress.

The band also recently premiered the album track/video “Dark Saturday”—remarkably shot on an iPhone X and also directed by long-time Metric collaborator Broadbent—via NPR Music’s “All Songs Considered” athttps://n.pr/2LmYhkO. Share the “Dark Saturday” video at https://metric.lnk.to/DarkSaturdayvideo and listen to the track at https://metric.lnk.to/darksaturday.

“This is our seventh album as a band,” notes 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 nightlife scene of gaudy wealth where oblivious party girls say nauseating things like, ‘I’m so rich everything’s free.’”

For the first time in the band’s last three albums, guitarist Jimmy Shaw did not co-produce, preferring to turn over the producer mantle to first time collaborator Justin Meldal-Johnsen whose many other musical collaborations include M83, Beck and Nine Inch Nails. The album—which was recorded at Metric’s own Giant Studio in Toronto—was 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,” notes Shaw. “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.”

The album is available to pre-order via Metric’s website, https://ilovemetricstore.com, including a variety of bundle options. Limited edition 12" gatefold color vinyl albums and autographed 7" Dark Saturday flexi-disc vinyl single packages are sold out, but there are still a limited number of autographed, standard black 12" vinyl albums available.

All pre-orders come with immediate downloads of “Dark Saturday,” “Dressed to Suppress” and “Now or Never Now” and will ship to arrive on or around the date of release.
Metric is currently wrapping up a 38-date run of live performances in arenas across North America as special guests on the reunion tour of legendary artist the Smashing Pumpkins.

Tickets for the remaining shows are available athttps://www.ilovemetric.com/tour/.
Metric also recently confirmed a 20-date overseas headlining tour beginning in Moscow on October 25; tickets are on sale via the band’s website at https://www.ilovemetric.com/tour/.

More details are available in the tour video at https://youtu.be/fKDi9MrvSc8.

Track listing:

1. Dark Saturday
2. Love You Back
3. Die Happy
4. Now or Never Now
5. Art of Doubt
6. Underline the Black
7. Dressed to Suppress
8. Risk
9. Seven Rules
10. Holding Out
11. Anticipate
12. No Lights on the Horizon

Tour dates:

September 6 Toronto, ON Danforth Music Hall
September 8 Vancouver, BC Skookum Festival at Stanley Park
October 25 Moscow, RU Red Club
October 27 Stockholm, SE Kagelbanan
October 29 Copenhagen, DK Pumpehuset
October 30 Hamburg, DE Knust
October 31 Berlin, DE Kesselhaus
November 1 Prague, CZ Roxy
November 2 Warsaw, PL Open Stage at Stodola
November 4 Vienna, AT WUK
November 5 Munich, DE Technikum
November 6 Zurich, CH Dynamo
November 8 Paris, FR Le Trianon
November 10 Madrid, ES Sala But
November 11 Barcelona, ES Bikini
November 13 Lyon, FR Transbordeur Club
November 14 Frankfurt, DE Gibson
November 15 Utrecht, NL TivoliVrenburg Ronda Room
November 17 Birmingham, UK O2 Institute 2
November 18 Glasgow, UK Queen Margaret Union
November 19 Manchester, UK O2 Ritz
November 20 London, UK O2 Forum