CD Review: Metric

On their first album in four years, these Canadian indie-poppers roll out hooks bigger than a hockey rink, which automatically makes them Canada's most tuneful band. Emily Haines (who's also a member of the Broken Social Scene collective, but who isn't?) loads up on the sweet and sour, delivering songs like "Help I'm Alive" and "Gold Guns Girls" with simultaneous pouts and bites. It's slippery, sexy stuff, propelled by a group that combines crunchy guitar riffs with skittering electronic buzzes. It's sorta like the Breeders crossed with Garbage, but Canadian. Like many of their countrymen, Metric tend to lose some of their flavor midway. Still, Fantasies is tons more fun than the latest records by Broken Social Scene and Stars. — Michael Gallucci