Album: Metric, Synthetica (Metric Music International)

It's easy to see why David Cronenberg was attracted to his fellow Canadian electropop outfit as contributors to the soundtrack to his recent film Cosmopolis.

Throughout Synthetica, an undertow of dystopian unease drags the music away from standard pop territory into darker areas. There's the nihilist overdrive of "Speed the Collapse", the replicant suspicions of "Synthetica", and the plight of "Dreams So Real", whose protagonist is haunted by the undead, yet remains resolutely jaded: "The scream becomes a yawn". There's a Suzanne Vega-ish flavour to Emily Haines's voice which casts its own shadow over some tracks; but even when plumbing the depths, Metric's pop charm seeps through in tracks like the lollopy glam-boogie "Youth Without Youth".

Download: Youth Without Youth; Lost Kitten; Dreams So Real