Seeing a band you love come back after recording a record is a grand treat, but another is getting the chance to see them live. Many acts will go about this in a very calculated way but Metric are anything but a calculating band, at least in terms of being typical or standard with how they interact with the world. On Wednesday (June thirteenth) evening the Canadian quartet played Music Hall of Williamsburg to a crowd of friends, family, and fans and showcased tracks from their new album, Synthetica. One of the most highly anticpated releases of the year and was produced by the bands talented guitarist, James 'Jimmy" Shaw.

Usually with a show like this (an album release gig) a band will play a combination of hits and new tracks but Metric completely embraced their new album and helped the crowd do the same. Tracks such as Breathing Underwater, Nothing But Time, and Dreams So Real graced the stage of Music Hall and easily became fan favorites, especially Breathing Underwater which showcased some of the best guitar work the band has ever done. The guitar riffs of those tracks melded perfectly with Emily Haines vocals, which revealed a sense of fury and passion which carried the thirteen song set. Fan favorites such as Dead Disco and Empty still found their way onto the bands set and seeing the band kick off an encore with Gold Guns Girls was both immensely satisfying and powerful.

Before the band’s last track of the night, Gimme Sympathy, a fan handed Haines a drawing he (or she, I couldn’t see the fan) drew and you could just see the look of being impressed and flattered on Haines face. She then went on to tell the crowd a story about how the band met each other and used to live in Williamsburg. Metric is a band I got into back in college and are a band that have stuck with me throughout the years. They’re music is incredibly passionate, fun, and filled with layers of craftsmanship that you’d be hard pressed to find with other acts. I still can’t get over how many of the new songs the band played and just how much I enjoyed them overall, songs I barely knew have certainly become favorite tracks for me and I can’t wait to see the band perform again.

The band played;

1. Artificial Nocturne
2. Youth Without Youth
3. Speed The Collapse
4. Dreams So Real
5. Lost Kitten
6. Empty
7. Synthetica
8. Dead Disco
9. Clone
10. Breathing Underwater
11. Nothing But Time
12. Gold Guns Girls (Encore)
13. Gimme Sympathy (Encore/Acoustic)

This review was written/photographed by Ken Grand-Pierre, a writer/photographer/graphic designer/bear fighter in New York. If you want to see more photos from this show and more be sure to visit his flickr. Also if you like what you see and you want to hear about more than be sure to follow on  twitter and tumblr