Hurt Without the Headache

In a recent interview, Barry Manilow said that in this war-addled era, people are searching for music that soothes. If so, Emily Haines, Metric’s frontwoman, is right on time with her first solo release, Knives Don’t Have Your Back. The disc is replete with a dark tone and soft sound, and Haines—with backing band The Soft Skeleton’s poignant, languorous tracks—shares similarities with other female singers such as newcomer Natalie Walker.

However, this is where the comparison ends; while Walker’s sweet vocals express that it’s OK to be sad or to trust your instincts, Haines is schooled in ’90s Liz Phair attitude and tends to have a snarky tone and quirky perspective. She tackles various sociological issues, like psychiatrists over-prescribing pills to placate their patients in “Dr. Blind,” men taking advantage of their wives and girlfriends in “The Maid Needs a Maid” and not really living your life to the fullest in “Reading In Bed.” Even the teasing “Mostly Waving” describes her disappointment when her college friends remind her to sound dumb in order to meet boys. Lastly, “The Lottery” decries begging for acceptance from others and “Winning” for forgetting people who have hurt you.

Even her various love songs debate the unusual and the evocative. In “Nothing and Nowhere,” Haines broaches the human experience, the not-often-mentioned topic of falling in love and falling out of a friendship circle. Then there are the taboo love songs wherein Haines imparts different feelings: In “Our Hell” she realizes she’s wrong about her lover’s ability to handle the relationship; “Crowd Surf Off a Cliff” conveys her feelings of not being able to share her love with her mate in public; and “Detective Daughter” bemoans relationship enmeshment. Finally, “The Last Page” describes how she feels like she’s blocking her lover’s way of moving forward.

Peaches pontificated recently about how she felt it was important for her and other women to assert sexuality as men have in raunchy rock songs in the past and more recently, in hip-hop. However, Haines holds off on demonstrating her baser instincts, opting instead to speak from her heart, thus opening those of others to hers.

Jan. 9. Hiro Ballroom (at the Maritime Hotel), 363 W. 16th St. (at 9th Ave.), 212-242-4300; 7, $19.50.