Canadian electro-rock darlings Metric are returning with a double dose of new material after 2012's highly successful Synthetica. The group recently released their “electro” album Pagans In Vegas, but have a softer, mellower as-yet untitled record coming out in the near future. Prior to an intimate September 24 homecoming show in Toronto, guitarist Jimmy Shaw—who was about to test out his Theremin—spoke to Myspace about the new album, touring with Imagine Dragons, Lou Reed and getting advice from Broken Social Scene's Kevin Drew.

Was it difficult paring the material down?

What we've always done in the past is take this genre and take that genre and meld them together by making them Metric the rock band. What we wanted to do this time around was allow things to really reside on either side. Let Metric the electronic part of what we do just be electronic and not have to put guitars and a live snare drum on top of it. And let the really ultra-acoustic, beautiful, mellow sombre, organic stuff not have to have big loud guitars all over it.

How did the opening track “Lie Lie Lie” come about?

Three tracks on the album —“Lie Lie Lie,” “Fortunes” and “The Governess”—came from this stuff (singer/keyboardist) Emily (Haines) wrote in Nicaragua. She wrote those three songs and they all have—as she would call it—this Dennis Hopper feel to it and “Lie Lie Lie” being the most angular and pointed lyrically of the three. There's nothing really else that's kind of jabbing like that but it wouldn't go anywhere but first.

You also sing lead on “The Other Side”—was it a case of it just fitting the song or…?

When all this stuff was played to Emily she was like, “I really like that. You should do that!” We're doing all this stuff, which are significant firsts for Metric, that would be a cool one to have in there.

Once we finished it, I did a classic singer move where I was like, “No this isn't good, we're taking it off.” Then a friend of mine, Kevin Drew from Broken Social Scene, heard it. He said, “I listened to the whole record. Jimmy, where's the song you cut?” I was like okay here it is. He looked at me afterwards. “You're a fucking idiot! You're an idiot! Put it on the record! You're doing the risk-taking record so take the fucking risk!”

How was touring with Imagine Dragons earlier this year?
It was great. We have these little jaunts into the mainstream and we ride the fence. That's what we've always done. We felt like Laurie Anderson on tour with Imagine Dragons. We're the crazy old art project and they're this incredibly mass appeal thing that are doing their best to educate their fans on where this music comes from. They felt very strongly that we should be on that tour. It wasn't just a random pairing.

If Metric was starting out today with your first album do you think you'd be as successful?

No not at all. I don't think I would start out today, I'd go to business school. At least from my vantage point, this looks like a brutal time to start unless your vision is very, very clear and you're not doing what we're doing. I feel like we were very, very, very lucky and we pulled an Indiana Jones where we got in at the last second and grabbed the hat under the thing.

Have you had any feedback from any Las Vegas pagans?

I did speak with one pagan. I did an interview in Europe and he asked me, “Are you pagan?” I said no. I asked him and he said, “I am actually.” I said, “Do you feel like we're just co-opting your entire belief system into something we know nothing about?” He said, “Not at all!” He said, “For the most part we're very joyful, happy people and I feel like you made a joyful happy record.”

This question sort of ties into Laurie Anderson. It was three years ago tonight (September 23) Metric brought out Lou Reed to play “Pale Blue Eyes” at Radio City Music Hall. What was that like?

That was three years ago tonight? Oh shit! It was just one of the best things ever. I had already met him a bunch of times and we had already worked together in the studio. But that night was just one of those things...the moments that you do things that are the furthest from what you could have expected your life would be like are the ones that just blow your mind apart. In my career that was the height of it so far.