MUSIC: "Help, I'm Alive" -- help I'm addicted

I love it when a song grabs you in a way that makes you stop what you're doing and just listen. When a song's first notes make you catch your breath so you can inhale every haunting note. When even listening 10 times in a row can barely whet an insatiable and growing desire to hear every beat, every syllable, every distortion. And and no matter how many times I hear it, at least so far, Metric's new "Help, I'm Alive" single currently does that for me.

The lyrics? Very simple. A sample:

I tremble
They're gonna eat me alive
If I stumble
They're gonna eat me alive

Can you hear my heart beating like a hammer?
Beating like a hammer?
Help, I'm alive, my heart keeps beating like a hammer
Hard to be soft
Tough to be tender

Come take my pulse, the pace is on a runaway train
Help, I'm alive, my heart keeps beating like a hammer ...

And if I wasn't already in love with the tune, the tone ... the tremble ... the story behind the song is quite haunting as well. In an interview with Metric's Emily Haines, the lead singer talked about how she decided to escape from it all to Buenos Aires in a search for inspiration and re-find a voice that was hers. Just hers.



It's a song and a story behind the song that strikes a chord with me, though why I have not fully wrapped my brain around.

All I know is when I hear it, I have to stop and think.

And when it ends, I want more.

The acoustic version of the song is also available for free download on the band's website, www.ilovemetric.com. And if you're looking for something a bit faster, I've been hearing the more dance version lately on 107.7 in Seattle. There are also versions on YouTube with photo slideshows, but I can't stand those. I'll be patient.