Emily Haines @ the Viper Room

“Rather give the world away then wake up lonely”

It’s hard to imagine that Emily Haines actually envisioned her debut solo effort to play for crowds and rooms filled with friends. Her dark, often haunting, songs seem quite inappropriate for any type of friendly get together. Yet, it was (almost) all smiles and love for the beauty queen of indie rock when she took the stage at the Viper Room last Thursday. The usual talkers and watch watchers were there in the back, something that has turned the Viper Room into a less than pleasant place to enjoy a night of good music, which also seems hard to come by at the one time hot spot.

Playing straight through Knives Don’t Have Your Back, Ms. Haines proved that these tunes were for a room filled to the brim. Her off kilter voice with slight hushing could be obviously eerie yet surprisingly relatable. The melodies bounced like she was a lost sister of Ben Gibbard, the one that wandered off into one of those bright colored Tim Burton films where the blond headed beauty turns around to reveal her likening to crocodiles.

A fan on Emily’s Myspace page described her voice like “a murderer running his hands up and down your spine” and that horror sums up the entire record and her performance. Her demeanor was toned down compared to the stage dancing she does with Metric though the confidence and strong femininity that has always surrounded her persona was apparent. With a girl trying to make her way in a world dominated by men with ego-sized guitars you know she is hiding a few weapons up her sleeves. And did I mention this might be the best thing she has ever done.

[mp3] Emily Haines & the Soft Skeleton – Crowd Surf Off A Cliff
[mp3] Emily Haines & the Soft Skeleton – The Lottery

Buy Knives Don't Have Your Back at Insound.

And check out the great video for the track "Doctor Blind."