Fantasies, the fourth LP from Metric was released in early April, and I’m kicking myself for taking nearly a month to buy it. I listened to the album yesterday afternoon, and wow. Just wow. Emily Haines, James Shaw, Josh Winstead, and Joules Scott-Key have turned in quite the contender for 2009’s best-of lists.

If I’d had this blog back in 2003, I would definitely have flogged Metric’s debut, Old World Underground, Where Are You Now?, especially “Dead Disco.” Unfortunately, the band’s follow-up, 2005’s Live It Out, didn’t really connect for me. Grow Up And Blow Away, released in 2007 but recorded back in 2001 (with only Haines and Shaw as members) had languished in limbo because of label troubles, with the six-year delay making it more of a historical curiosity than any current artistic statement.

But Metric is back with its most cohesive disc yet, as Fantasies is the stuff of which my indie dreams are made. Haines’ vocals bring to mind both Suzanne Vega and Nina Persson (The Cardigans, A Camp) — sometimes within the very same track — peppering in some skillful synth work while the Metric men provide muscular rhythms that keep their cautionary tales and introspective messages moving. The album is a tour de force for the Toronto-based band, hammering home the message that, four years after Live It Out, they mean business.

Opener “Help I’m Alive,” which recalls the Pixies with its frequent shifts from sweet to aggressive (or Kim Deal’s divine hammer), was the first single from Fantasies, but unintentionally so. Another song (“Gimme Sympathy”) had been slated for the honor, but when Metric had some 7-inch singles of “Help I’m Alive” printed in December as a limited-edition charity giveaway, the song leaked from the pressing plant to the Interweb. Soon “Help I’m Alive” was being played all over the world.

Worse things have happened of course, and Metric wisely embraced the exposure. According to a note posted on the band’s website, they were completely surprised by the success of “Help I’m Alive”: “We never could have guessed that this song would be a radio contender! Its success proved our theory that programmers and listeners are more open minded than anyone gives them credit for.”

“Help I’m Alive” has been available as a digital download since January 1, but I didn’t pick up the single until I grabbed the exclusive Record Store Day vinyl release. Anyway, I don’t feel too far behind as it was only recently that any visual accompaniment existed for the song. “It’s not a music video,” according to Haines. “This is a short film in an imaginary landscape.” Uh, okay. Enjoy this “short film” then, a strange concoction of performance footage and propagada film from Canadian auteur Deco Dawson. The twisted sensibilities of David Lynch come to mind:

Purchase Metric – “Help I’m Alive” via iTunes or Amazon MP3 (where the full-length Fantasies is just $5.00.) And be sure to visit Metric’s website for a free download of an acoustic version of “Help I’m Alive.”

Photo credit: Jenny Lewis