Metric are a Canadian indie rock band founded in 1998 in Toronto, Ontario. The band consists of Emily Haines (lead vocals, synthesizers, guitar, tambourine, harmonica, piano), James Shaw (guitar, synthesizers, theremin, backing vocals), Joshua Winstead (bass, synthesizers, backing vocals) and Joules Scott-Key (drums, percussion). The band started in 1998 as a duo formed by Haines and Shaw with the name "Mainstream". After releasing an EP titled Mainstream EP, they changed the band's name to Metric.
The band's first studio album, Old World Underground, Where Are You Now?, was released in 2003. Live It Out, released in 2005, was nominated for the 2006 Polaris Music Prize for the "Canadian Album of the Year" and for the 2006 Juno Awards for "Best Alternative Album". Their third studio album, Grow Up and Blow Away, was recorded in 2001; it was initially planned as their debut album, but was delayed for many years and finally released, with some changes, in 2007.
Metric's fourth album Fantasies was released in 2009. It was shortlisted for the 2009 Polaris Music Prize for "Canadian Album of the Year", and won the "Alternative Album of the Year" at the 2010 Juno Awards. Metric also won the 2010 "Group of the Year". The fifth Metric studio album, Synthetica, was released in 2012. The band won two awards at 2013 Juno Awards: "Alternative Album of the Year" for Synthetica and "Producer of the Year" for Shaw. The art director/designer/photographer Justin Broadbent also won an award for "Recording Package of the Year" for Synthetica. Metric's sixth album, Pagans in Vegas, was released in 2015, and their seventh album, Art of Doubt, was released in 2018. Their eighth full-length record, Formentera, was released on July 8, 2022. Their ninth LP, Formentera II, was released on October 13, 2023 via their label MMI and Thirty Tigers.
In 2023, Metric ranked 41st on Rolling Stone's The 50 Greatest Canadian Artists of All Time
