It takes a lot of skill to create a really good three-minute-long, radio-friendly song which stays honest. Some bands have done in: Dictator's latest, 'Rubik's Cube', is a great example.
But it also takes a certain kind of brilliance to create an epic, progressive but listenable track which twists and turns, rises and falls, surprises and engages from start to end. I wrote about a fabulous example of that kind of song last year after I discovered Gefahrgeist's fabulous 7-minute journey, 'Orbit' (featuring Conscious Route).
But how about a song which lasts more than 10 minutes and still leaves you wanting more. That's what Metric have managed with Doomscroller, a piece of music which feels like a voyage, through space rather than across seas. It's a song showcasing some high-level skills, both in the song-writing and in the interpretation and performance. It's well-judged, too, without any sense of time-wasting or unnecessary padding. This song needs 10 minutes.
Despite that galaxy of audio which lies spread ahead, 'Doomscroller' doesn't feature a long building-intro - just a few bars of ominous, fuzz-tinged bass loop before the vocals come in, restrained at first. Emily Haines sounds really good here - right on the mark, using her natural voice with control.
Soon there's a dancey-beat appearing quickly from over the horizon and we're into straight-up banger territory. But at the same time this is an anxiety-tinged part of the track, reflecting the overall message of digital information overload, constant updates overwhelming our brains, the sense of the need for escape.
"Don't give up yet" voices repeat, through glitchy, robotic filters, and everything builds climacticly ... but then a drop away; there's a possible reprieve.
"Lining up, all the numbers under the names" we hear, and Emily's vocals become heavily reverbed, magnifying that sense of floating, drifting high above the backing of piano chords and strings. Bass loops return, there are turned-down beats, and then a sense of building again. Just when things get going, though (and by the way, we're still only just-over halfway through at this point), it's all taken back from us again. That banging beat and bass combo seem to fall away in a gust of howling wind, and Emily sits alone at the piano:
"Whatever you do, either way we're gonna love you:
Never mattered how many or how much more you're been through"
This final section of the song, which itself last about 3 minutes (bringing us through to the end of the track as a whole) could stand as a strong ballad in its own right. There's a beautiful repeating melodic device, which gradually gains support from acoustic guitar and drums, and eventually from electric guitar and bass, too. The inclusion of this section of the piece, with live, organic instruments, brings an amazing sense of refreshment and escape after the pounding, processed electronic first two-thirds. That's a brilliant touch: that setting off and weighing up of two ways of making music. Many bands try this, but few succeed; it can often sound clumsy or misjudged. Here, it works, big time.
What also works is the way this all comes to an end. There are some small hints of what came before, but, this time, not a full reprisal of the first themes. Instead there are just touches of electronic sound, panned left while the acoustic guitar moves right, as a reminder of the journey we've been on together.
It ends abruptly - the message has been delivered, and now its up to us.
'Doomscroller' joins (the much shorter) All Comes Crashing to create a tantalising preview of Metric's upcoming album 'Formentera' (due to be released on 8th July), which will be their eighth LP. It's been four years since the band last released an album (Art of Doubt), so it will be eagerly anticipated ...
The band will be touring in North America over the summer (tickets are available here).
Listen via Spotify or watch the video: