2LP, Limited Edition, Coke Bottle Clear vinyl
Metric Music International (2015) UK, EU
Pagans in Vegas is the sixth full-length album from Canadian rock band Metric. In an effort to translate the gratifying experience of discovering an artist you love, Metric has packed their new album with reverent references to artists who’ve inspired them, from Depeche Mode to Joy Division and Underworld.
Frontwoman Emily Haines explains that it was about finding “the romance of another time without falling into nostalgia.” The concept is also perfectly captured on the album’s cover, which features a shot of Memphis’ Hotel Chisca, the spot where Elvis Presley did his first broadcast interview. But despite a few glances in the rearview, Pagans in Vegas stitches together its acoustic and synthetic foundations with a crisp, unique now-ness that captures the quandaries of life in an age where bad news is unavoidable and great art is a life-saver.
“With this record we were making music for the joy of it,” says guitarist and producer James Shaw. “We’re still in the game as musicians and people, although the game has gotten increasingly unrecognizable to us.”
Their time spent writing in 2014 – Shaw at his studio in Toronto, delving into the CS80 synth and Haines with acoustic instruments in Nicaragua and Spain – yielded an unprecedented amount of material that revealed itself across at least two major musical veins. Realizing they had composed enough music for two very different albums, they decided to let each collection of songs stand on their own.