Four albums into their career, Metronomy have now undoubtedly established themselves as one of the country’s finest and most interesting bands. Their setlist of nineteen songs mainly focuses on breakthrough record The English Riviera and latest offering Love Letters, but the quartet still manage to display themselves as multi-talented artists, with the new album’s sixties throwback style acting as a nice contrast to the more slick and straightforward sound of its predecessor.
In studio form the new album has presented itself as something of a slow-burner. An unashamedly personal record about wanting to return to the things you’ve been taken away from, it could easily be assumed that many of the tracks would fail to translate well in a live performance. However, quite the opposite ends up being the case for many tracks, with Month of Sundays being one of the most anthemic songs of the night and The Most Immaculate Haircut getting the honour of closing the encore. Even I’m Aquarius (the album’s first single, which had sounded so nondescript upon premiere) is transformed into a glorious singalong as the ‘shoop-doop-doop-ahh’ backing vocals prove to be one of the night’s most infectious moments.
Surprisingly, the only disappointment ends up being Corinne. Once described by Rob da Bank as a song that could be a number one single in a parallel universe, it’s proven to be a fan favourite over the years, but here it falls flat. It’s difficult figuring out why this is, but the fact that there’s simply so much going on at the same time is likely to be a factor, as is its placing in such a busy setlist. However, the other songs from The English Riviera work brilliantly, with The Look and The Bay getting wild crowd reactions, and Everything Goes My Way being a contender for the highlight of the night.
Joseph Mount has often confessed to being something of a reluctant frontman, and this does tend to show. On more than one occasion he starts telling the audience an amusing anecdote before abandoning it midway through. This is more endearingly sweet than it is anyway problematic though, and it allows the other band members to shine, with bass player Olugbenga Adelekan being particularly energetic. On the whole Metronomy are actually a much stronger live act than you’d likely first imagine. Each member feels vital to the overall success of the night, and their matching outfits only add to the slick and charming feel of things. Having increased their popularity with each album era, and with so many excellent songs already to their name, it’ll be interesting to see where they go from here. Joseph once spoke about never wanting to achieve success on the same level as bands such as Coldplay, and while it was perhaps a little premature of him, their live set has all the evidence to suggest that it’s completely possible.
