Metric Collapse Reality in ‘Synthetica’ – Premiere
On “Synthetica,” the title track of electro-rockers Metric‘s 2012 album, frontwoman Emily Haines fights against conformity and declares, “We’re all the time confined to fit the mold.” In the band’s new video for the track, she faces this literally in the form of a showdown with three replicas of herself.
The video was directed by Justin Broadbent, who worked with Metric on their “Sick Muse” and “Youth Without Youth” clips. This time, Broadbent presents a kaleidoscopic vision of Haines as she searches a museum. Paintings of mouths swallowing pills drift by in the background as the four versions of Haines separate and collide, sometimes leaving two standing or none at all.
Watch Metric Strip Down in the Studio
“Justin used a quadratic camera to create a mirroring effect where the viewer is confronted with a hypnotic, repeating image of an art gallery collapsing in on itself,” Haines told Rolling Stone. “[It] speaks to the question of what is fake and what is real.”
The video precedes the November 12th release of Synthetica Reflections, the instrumental remake of Synthetica, which guitarist James Shaw made using entirely analog synthesizers. Metric is also releasing the METRIC Synthetica album app; it allows users to remix and change Synthetica songs, further exemplifying Haines’ idea that reality might be more malleable than we think.