Haines recorded Choir of the Mind over a few weeks in September and October of 2016, more or less alone in Metric’s Toronto studio with a borrowed 9-foot grand piano built in 1850. Many of the songs, she wrote in that room and then her Metric bandmate, James Shaw helped fleshed them out with guitar and rhythmic elements. (Shaw also mixed the album). Sparklehorse drummer Scott Minor, from the first incarnation of the Soft Skeleton, also performed on Legend of the Wild Horse. “The process was intensive, the execution was very fluid,” Haines says.

In between solo releases, of course, Haines keeps plenty busy with Metric. Formed in 1998, the band has released six full-length albums and seven EPs on its way to commanding arena-sized stages and contributing to soundtracks for The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and Cosmopolis.