Emily Haines & the Soft Skeleton - the album technology is generally horrible. i'm allowed to make this blanket statement because of what i've been through the last week; the old non-click wheel iPod nearly exploding, electrical appliances overheating, rewiring everything until i'm Samuel L Jackson fighting these snakes lining the walls from corner to corner, cords and power strips and glaring, demonic electrical outlets - then the computer decides to be fickle, and it's all over. i'm over at Radioshack telling them i'm so sick of these motherfuckin'...

well.

but even through all of these issues, there has been one album that by hook or by crook i managed to hear playing from some electrical source or another. it was important to me. there are only a few times in life that i actually manage to say that about any one thing, and though usually it is a piece of music, it's still an unusual statement. hearing the noise was actually a crucial thing. and even while i wait for that perfect pair of headphones to be sent my way, i am rest assured that every song, every beat, every lyric i can conjur is circling through my head constantly. i am a walking playback of Emily Haines & the Soft Skeleton - Knives Don't Have Your Back.

in what will be the third wildly popular project from the lady we were introduced to by Broken Social Scene, Metric's sole vocalist takes those quiet moments of vocal build that they would use to explode into sometimes-proggish pop delight (i'm thinking particularly of Glass Ceiling) - and she runs away with it. Emily's generally-considered solo effort is an album of tension, of constant build, of sexual and emotional frustration. her already seductive style oozes and drips, coats you with the stuff, and begs listen after listen. the instrumentation is so slyly deep, wandering in and out of piano and strings and drums that leave you positively fuzzy. the lyrics are some of the best that i've managed to pay attention to in a long time, probably since John Roderick on Putting The Days To Bed. they are sometimes dark, sometimes pensive, and sometimes humorously clever - but they are always lovely. i am astonished at my own reaction to this entire CD and even though i thought i loved the singles Our Hell and The Lottery as they trickled out and i posted on them, it has been with each repeated listen that i have come to appreciate their depth and musical quality on a level i'm not sure i ever expected.

::::and i prove it to you:
Emily Haines & tSS - Our Hell - in case you don't already have it.
Emily Haines & tSS - Doctor Blind
Emily Haines & tSS - Detective's Daughter

the album comes out in a little over two weeks: September 26th. i so highly recommend buying it. in the meantime, you know the drill:
official site (+ another coming soon)
the myspace
Emily Haines on the Hype (get yo'self some tracks)  shan  7:43 AM  |  view comments (0)