Metric wrestles with quandaries both large and small in the new video for “False Dichotomy,” which arrives today (July 8) in tandem with Formentera, the Canadian group’s first album in four years.
In the clip, frontwoman Emily Haines sings and sways amid a variety of locations while staged tableaus demonstrate the concept of incongruity (a baby positioned back to back with a plant, a disco ball and a basketball, cassette editions of both volumes of Guns ‘N Roses’ Use Your Illusion).
Formentera was led by the single “All Comes Crashing,” which hit No. 1 on the Canadian alternative chart and is also rising on the American AAA and alternative tallies. “For me, aside from the obvious darkness and grief and the many challenges of the past couple years, this was one of the happiest processes of making an album ever,” Haines enthuses.
The album’s title was inspired by a Spanish island profiled in a book of must-see travel destinations that Metric’s members found while recording in Toronto. “Even real places become imaginary when they are so far out of reach,” Haines says. “Beyond being an actual island, Formentera is about creating an escape for yourself in your mind because you’re powerless over so many things.”
Metric will return to the road on its Doomscroller tour Aug. 11-12 in Victoria, B.C. Seven Canadian dates in late August and early September will feature performances by Spoon and Interpol.
