EMILY HAINES

This one darn near slipped right past me. I'd heard that Metric's Emily Haines had a solo album coming out at some point, but I didn't realize it was happening today (in the U.S.).

Knives Don't Have Your Back is being attributed to Emily Haines & the Soft Skeleton. The latter would seem to consist of Sparklehorse's Scott Minor, Broken Social Scene's Justin Peroff, Stars' Evan Cranley, and Metric's Jimmy Shaw. Most likely, these fellows contributed to the project individually, as the songs on Knives consist primarily of Emily's deeply reverbed voice and haunting piano playing. As she writes on her MySpace page: "When I was a little kid, I would creep downstairs to the piano and write rudimentary songs about imaginary places. I'm told the first song I ever wrote was a love song to a cranberry tree."

In other words: Don't expect this record to sound particularly Metric-like.

The song below will give you a pretty good idea of the album's general pace and mood. The aformentioned piano playing tends to be simple yet trenchant, and there's a fragile beauty to these tunes that's just perfect for cool autumn evenings.

Emily Haines has the following show upcoming...

Oct 1 8:00P/Kool Haus - See Vous Play (CBC Radio 3)/Toronto

[For another track from the new CD, visit Fingertips.]

From the LP Knives Don't Have Your Back, 2006 >>>
[MP3] "Crowd Surf Off a Cliff"

From the LP Cut in Half and Also Double, 1996 >>>
[MP3] "Eau de Toilette"