Emily Haines

Infobox musical artist
Name = Emily Haines

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Img_capt = Emily Haines performing in 2007
Landscape = yes
Background = solo_singer
Birth_name =
Born = New Delhi, India - 1974
Origin = Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Instrument = Vocals, piano
Genre = Indie
Occupation = Singer-songwriter
Years_active = 1990–present
Label = Last Gang, Drowned in Sound
Associated_acts = Metric
Broken Social Scene
Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton
URL = [http://www.emilyhaines.com/ www.emilyhaines.com]

Emily Haines (born circa 1974 [cite news | accessdate=2007-11-25 | url=http://www.popmatters.com/pm/news/article/9691/metrics-emily-haines-cuts-a-new-swath-with-solo-disc/ | title=Metric's Emily Haines cuts a new swath with solo disc | first=Len | last=Righi | work=The Morning Call (Allentown) | publisher=PopWire | date=9 January 2007 Indicates age 32 just prior to her 4 January 2007 tour date in Montreal. [http://www.brooklynvegan.com/archives/2006/10/emily_haines_20.html] .] in New Delhi, India) is a member of the bands Metric, Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton and Broken Social Scene.

She has contributed backing vocals to albums by other Broken Social Scene members, such as Jason Collett and Kevin Drew.

Biography

Emily is the daughter of Canadian poet Paul Haines and sister of Canadian television journalist Avery Haines. Her brother is Tim Haines, owner of Bluestreak Records in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada. She was born in New Delhi, India, and raised in Canada. After settling in Peterborough at the age of three, she grew up in a house rich with experimental art and musical expression. Paul would often make cassettes of rare and eclectic music for his daughter to listen to and her early influences included Carla Bley, Robert Wyatt, and later PJ Harvey. By her teens she followed her parents' footsteps by attending the Etobicoke School of the Arts. There she met Amy Millan and Kevin Drew, with whom she would later collaborate in songs for Broken Social Scene and Stars.

Haines and Millan briefly formed their first band around 1990 while at ESA, and with songs later written and recorded while at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver in 1992–1993, at Toronto in 1995, and at Concordia University in Montreal in 1995–1996, Haines distributed in 1996 an early effort with a limited number of copies.

Haines also has a solo career, and has released three albums, "Cut in Half and Also Double" , "Knives Don't Have Your Back" and " What Is Free to a Good Home?" . She occasionally plays a limited number of solo shows, often with Amy Millan as the opener. Haines' act consisted of just herself (occasionally blindfolded), and a piano.

She released an EP under the name Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton entitled "What Is Free to a Good Home?". It was released by Last Gang Records in the US and the UK on July 24, 2007. A sample of a song from the album, "Rowboat", was released by Pitchfork Media online.

Haines also appeared in the 2004 drama film "Clean". She and her band, Metric, appearing as themselves, performed their song "Dead Disco" and then went backstage for a small speaking role.

Emily Haines and the Soft Skeleton

Emily Haines’ solo work, Emily Haines and the Soft Skeleton is quite a departure from the sounds of her work in Metric. Her second solo work entitled Knives Don’t Have Your Back is a mainly piano based, softer, subdued album that features story-telling, introspective lyrics, a contrast from the hard, rock, hyped, edgy sound that comes from Metric songs like “Dead Disco”. Although Haines contends that “…most Metric songs I write would start out sounding the same way that Knives sounds. The only difference is that with Knives, I'm exposing my music in a more vulnerable state” . This vulnerable tone heard in this solo album can be attributed to the event that sparked Haines’ motivation to write it, the death of her father. Knives Don’t Have Your Back includes the singles “Doctor Blind” and “Our Hell”.

Media/Cultural Impact

Although Emily Haines is most noted for her rock sounds of Metric, she like many other ‘indie’ artists collaborate in different ways among related artists and bands, dabbling in more than one creative music group and scene. Subsequently, she has lent her musical talent in the Broken Social Scene, Stars, and The Stills.

Discography

olo

Albums

*"Cut in Half and Also Double" (1996)
*"Knives Don't Have Your Back" (2006, #28 in Canada)

EPs

*"What Is Free to a Good Home?" (2007)

Metric

Albums

*"Grow Up and Blow Away" (recorded 2002, released 2007)
*"Old World Underground, Where Are You Now?" (2003)
*"Live It Out" (2005)

EPs

*"Mainstream EP" (1998)
*"Static Anonymity EP" (2001)
*"Live from Metropolis EP" (2007)

DVDs

*"Live from Metropolis" (2008)

ingles

* [http://www.videology-tv.com/viewclip.php?id=66 "Dr. Blind"]
* [http://youtube.com/watch?v=w_aCvGUI-Hc "Our Hell"]

Guest appearances

The following songs are credited with Emily Haines on either lead or backing vocals.

*Broken Social Scene – "Looks Just Like the Sun", "Anthems for a Seventeen-Year-Old Girl", "Backyards", "Her Disappearing Theme", "Swimmers"
*Delerium – "Stopwatch Hearts"
*Jason Collett – "Fire", "Hangover Days" (Emily is actually in the video edit of the song "fire". The album version credits the female backing vocals to Amy Millan)
*KC Accidental – "Them (Pop Song #3333)"
*MSTRKRFT - "She's Good For Business"
*Stars – "Going, Going, Gone", "On Peak Hill", "Romantic Comedy", "Your Ex-Lover Is Dead"
*The Stills – "Baby Blues"
*"Clean Original Soundtrack" – "Dead Disco" (Metric)

Haines made a cameo appearance on the k-os music video, "Man I Used to Be". [cite news | url=http://72.14.205.104/search?q=cache:rjhv5aQ5M0wJ:www.nowtoronto.com/minisites/nxne/2005/daily_post.cfm%3Fdaily_id%3D71 | publisher=NOW | date=10 June 2005 | first=Jason | last=Richards | title=NXNE: Just "be." | accessdate=2007-11-25 [http://www.nowtoronto.com/minisites/nxne/2005/daily_post.cfm?daily_id=71 Direct link] had access problem as of 25 November 2007.] She can also be seen on The Stills music video for "Love and Death" playing a secretary.

References

Chan, Alvin. “Emily Haines – Pop Princess Sharpens her Knives”. MusicOMH.com. http://www.musicomh.com/interviews/emily-haines_0607.htm. Accessed July 28 2008.

Sweeny, Joey. “Indie Pop Goes Twee”. The Rock History Reader. Ed. Theo Cateforis New York: Routledge, 2007.

Filmography

*"Clean" (2004, as herself)

External links

* [http://www.emilyhaines.com/ Emily Haines] official website
* [http://ilovemetric.com/ Metric] official website
*myspace|emilyhaines