A little over a year after Formentera, Metric returns with a “suite” where underground icons synthesize decades of music with the finesse they are known for.

10 years ago and some dust, Metric released an album with the telling title: Synthetica. It sums up the essence of the Canadian group well: amalgamating musical languages, ignoring the supposed boundaries between styles, to construct pop songs (what a sense of melody!) of intelligent audacity and, above all, never pat- at the eye.

Perhaps we should understand the title of their diptych as a way for Emily Haines and her colleagues to assert their approach. Formentera (name borrowed from an island neighboring Ibiza, in the Mediterranean) would thus be their musical country. A place of irresistible groove and reflective lyrics carried by a rich voice, capable of sounding like a disco princess, but rooted in a rebellious spirit.

Formentera II is obviously a continuation of the album released last year. And even more mastered. As if Metric had finished mapping this territory and knew it intimately. We cross it while being constantly captivated by the beauty of the settings and architectural details: a rock guitar where we least expected it, an ironic wink at the turn of a sentence, clashes of ideas which , at Metric, flow as if it were obvious.

With this disc (and the previous one), Metric proves that pop or rock is not just a matter of youth. Few bands age as well as this one.