Metronomy, Metronomy Forever - album review

Metronomy are one of the most underrated groups to occupy the British music sphere.

The Devon act, fronted by the sweet-voiced Joseph Mount, have been criminally overlooked apart from the odd huge hit and a Mercury Prize for 2011’s The English Riviera.

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While they are sampled and snapped up for various adverts, movie soundtracks and TV accompaniments et al, they have never been afforded the universally accepted reputation of ‘excellence’ their past two records Love Letters (2014) and Summer 08 (2016) deserved.

While this admittedly doesn’t quite live up to some of the masterful work on those two, there is a lot to love about one of their most ambitious projects to date.

The five-piece have been busy. Very productive. This record sits at 18 tracks in length, although this does thankfully include a couple of quick musical interludes.

Almost immediately, we are hit by the wonderfully zany Insecurity, a track so ‘Metronomy’ it practically tattoos their name on your eardrums as it passes through. Pinged synths and understated guitars accompany Mount’s saccharine vocals. That wonderful synth melody will have you falling in love instantly.

There’s the equally funky Sex Emoji too. Featuring a lazer-like chorus shooting out from the speakers it should really be annoying, but this band’s skills lie in the fact it is not. They make the weird and out there seem normal. And they should be worshipped more for it. Some, like Darwin Deez, try too hard. If these were any more laid back about their style they’d be in a constantly horizontal state of existence.

There’s the deeply reverberating Upset My Girlfriend too, the closest they will probably come to an acoustic number. It does include softly strummed guitar, it’s like a Silversun Pickups track in a really foul mood.

The dance-like instrumental Miracle Rooftop is also good fun, presented in a kind of muffled state anyone who works in a city centre office late on weekends will recognise if any clubs are situated near to their place of work.

And while a couple of tracks are a little slower and harder to enjoy from start to finish (Lying Low or Ur Mixtape spring to mind), this is still an accomplished listen.

Rating: 7/10

Metronomy finish their European tour this year at Birmingham’s O2 Institute on November 16