Emily Haines Gets Her Knives Out For Solo Debut

Metric frontwoman Emily Haines has been talking about her long anticipated solo debut album for quite a while, but now it finally has a firm title and release date.

Metric's label, Last Gang Records, will release Knives Don't Have Your Back on Sept. 26. The album will be a major change of pace from what people are used to from Haines, as it's described by Last Gang as "an intimate and subtle collection of mellow, piano-driven tunes complemented by soft string and horn arrangements."

Knives Don't Have Your Back was recorded over the past four years in Los Angeles, Montreal, Toronto and New York, and was produced by John O'Mahony (Metric, The Strokes, System of A Down). Scott Minor from Sparklehorse, Justin Peroff of Broken Social Scene, Evan Cranley from Stars, Haines' Metric bandmate Jimmy Shaw and Todor Kobakov contributed to the album. Each of the disc's 11 songs is quite personal, and "Reading In Bed" and "Mostly Waving" were recorded in Toronto during the winter of 2002 as Haines was mourning the passing of her father, poet Paul Haines.

"When I was a little kid... I would creep downstairs to the piano and write rudimentary songs about imaginary places," says Haines. "I'm told the first song I ever wrote was a love song to a cranberry tree.

"Everywhere I've lived while working with Metric, I've written songs on the piano and played them for no one. On the advice of a friend, I decided I'd better start recording them before they were forgotten. Four meandering years later, I ended up with this collection of songs featuring a few of my favourite people, a group I call The Soft Skeleton."

Here are the songs on Knives Don't Have Your Back:

"Our Hell"
"The Lottery"
"Doctor Blind"
"Nothing & Nowhere"
"Crowd Surf Off A Cliff"
"The Maid Needs A Maid"
"Mostly Waving"
"City Of Night"
"Reading In Bed"
"Detective Daughter"
"The Last Page"