New line-up, new sound. If second album, Nights Out was a messy-yet-fun affair, then The English Riviera sees Metronomy deliver a slice of deliciously tight indie-pop. More than ever before, the English band actually sound like, well, a band.
Joseph Mount, the group’s vocalist and creative force, has always been able to pen a catchy tune, but on this third long-player he has really refined the Metronomy sound and created a clean sounding, coherent record that, as the name suggests, is a perfect representation of the rather delightful charm of the English summertime.
Amid smooth bass-lines, catchy electronic organ hooks and laid-back guitars there are fresh and perky tunes here, like lead single The Look. The album’s sweet and hopeful tone is best illustrated by the rather lovely Everything Goes My Way. On it, newbie Anna Prior offers a disarming Charlotte Hatherley-esque vocal amid oohs and handclaps. “It feels so good to have you back, my love/I’m in love again,” she chirps, before frontman Joseph Mount pops up to turn it, slightly surprisingly but wonderfully, into a duet. “I’ll never up and run,” he replies. “I’ll stay right here.” It’s really rather heart-warming. Later, The Bay shows that Mount, even when largely going back to basics, still likes to push his sonic boundaries as the song whooshes and swirls through synths and harmonies.
The English Riviera presents itself as the feel-good album of the summer in England, and rightly so. This is a fine record, and certainly Metronomy’s best to date.
Review by Rob Townsend
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