Fantasies

Canada’s Metric scored big in 2005 with Live It Out, a solid collection of tight and punchy, new-wave inspired rock. At the core of the band is singer Emily Haines, who also performs with the venerable Broken Social Scene, while allowing her torch song affinities to shine on solo recordings. With Metric, Haines has a brassy, sexy persona and can deliver a commanding sneer or Lolita precociousness with equal aplomb. Fans who have been waiting for Fantasies will not be disappointed; buzzing, humming guitars and incessant dance beats on tracks like  “Gold Guns Girls,” “Gimme Sympathy,” and “Sick Muse” are tempered with tracks like the twinkling “Twilight Galaxy,” the sinuous “Help I’m Alive,” and the dreamy “Collect Call.”  Whether Haines is snarling, “Cupid stuck me with a sickness” or purring, “Come on baby/I’ll pick you up and take you/ anywhere you want,” she delivers a solid punch, and together with the pop gloss on her keyboard work and the sharp edges of James Shaw’s guitars (nice twang on “Sick Muse,” dude!), Fantasies is — like Live It Out — smart and stylish pop of the highest order.