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Metropolitan:
The Lines They Get Broken
Metropolitan has been playing around the DC area for awhile now, and the bands experience has certainly paid off on their third LP, The Lines They Get Broken. Ive seen these guys play the Black Cat a few times, and I must say that their sound works pretty well when its nailed down in the studio. Former members of Velocity Girl and The Dismemberment Plan helped with the production here, but regardless of who was behind the boards, the final product turned out well. Metropolitan is a bit difficult to place musically. Though only a three-piece, the bands guitarist and bassist have such a full playing style that far more appears to be going on here than just drums, bass, guitar and an occasional studio touch-up. First off, I want to credit the bassist, Shyam Telikicherla. This guy really is impressive. His notes are all over the place, and many of the hooks and melodies on this release come straight from his instrument. After carefully listening to the LP, the guitarist is pretty intriguing too. His function is to throw in a bit more noise and chaos into the bands sound, but he never really drowns out the rhythm section. Sometimes the band sounds pretty darn noisy, but each musician seems to respects the others personal space; so this isnt quite like J Mascis shredding his bandmates to pieces. Then again, the guitar feedback closing up Downstream does a pretty good job of trashing up the songs original pop structure. The band is certainly tight, and theyve got a lot to offer here. The vocals are pretty good too, although this might be the detail that determines how much you like Metropolitan. If you took all the snot out of a vocalist like Green Days Billie Joe or maybe the Raptures lead singer, youd end up with vocals resembling Metropolitans, at least in songs such as Here and There and Headway. Vocalist John Masters has a tendency to over-pronounce certain words in that old British punk sort of style, even though the music is really evocative of a different era. Of the nine songs here, the only one that sort of bugs me is Pakistan International with its slightly repetitive lyrics about flying around the Middle East. Still, thats not a topic that comes up in most indie rock tunes, so its a novel theme even if it wasnt executed exactly to my liking. Even though this might not be the best album of Metropolitans career, certain tracks are as strong as the material you hear from bands with much bigger hype nowadays. Just listen to the opening guitar of Headway, and tell me this band couldnt write a song as good as The Stills. Plus, I really cant get enough of their bassist and how he pokes his way in and out of songs like Western Star. All in all, The Lines They Get Broken is yet another good sign that New York City hasnt sucked away all the talented musicians from the District of Columbia. So if you get a chance, check out Metropolitan.
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