New York – Metronomy is an outfit that produces timeless electronica, a seemingly impossible feat in our time. The group’s name is a repurposing of the device that measures tempo, and Metronomy’s sound follows an identical algorithm. With liberal electronic transgressions, this is a group that modifies strict technique boldly. Their work at large is cybernetic.
Metronomy’s is a unique sound, which has charmed us quite unlike any other contemporary electronic outfit of late. Their latest endeavor has us by throats. Love Letters was released via Because Music on March 10th studio album to date. Unsurprisingly, this album fits into this group’s discography like a missing puzzle piece. Recalling the torrid luster we loved about albums past, Metronomy delivers more of the same explorative melodies that cut to our cores as deeply as they demand we cut a rug.
With an unmatched new wave sound, it’s not shocking this group emerged from the UK. Joseph Mount is Metronomy’s chief architect, and he formed the group in Totnes, Devon, England. The lineup is as follows: Mount is Metronomy’s composer, vocalist, keyboardist and guitarist, Oscar Cash is the saxophonist, backup vocalist, guitarist and keyboardist, Anna Prior is a vocalist and percussionist and Gbenga Adelekan contributes on guitar, vocals and bass.
They released their first LP Pip Paine (Pay the £5000 You Owe) in 2005, and the record was rereleased in 2006 when Metronomy officially signed onto Because Music that year. Nights Out (2008) and The English Riviera (2011) both precede Metronomy’s latest, via their current label.
Arguably, this album is a little top heavy. It begins with a bang with “The Upsetter,” and is solid straight through track five. However, the record looses steam in the second half. This is not to say tracks six through 10 are sonically weak, but they don’t measure up to their heavy-hitting predecessors.
“Month of Sundays” sees this group at its most mature. Opening in guitar melodies as gentle as Real Estate’s, this track lives in tones suited to the 60s. Similarly, “I’m Aquarius” recalls the sexy energy of the best of The English Riviera. The atmosphere this track captures is one of sophistication, like eloping to Monaco. “Monstrous” displays Mount’s composer chops like never before, at is at once eerie and infectious.
“Love Letters,” the album’s single, starts with slow and seductive brass instrumentation and explodes into a cacophony of drum and vocals. It’s entirely fitting that this should be the album’s title track, because it betrays an underlying sentiment on which the lyricism at large is built. A lovelorn theme persists, and is the group’s fourth throughout the album, and paints a dark tapestry of coupling. With Love Letters, we see a narrative unfold of the most intimate kind. Embracing vulnerability, owning rejection, this album with fill you with force to face “it’s complicated” with courage.
The group in currently on tour in Europe, and will continue through March and April. They’ll cross the pond come May, and are set to tour North America into June. For all inclusive lovers of electronically edgy groups like Chromatics, Poliçia and Hot Chip, to more experimental acts such as Grimes, Phantogram and Washed Out – Metronomy’s latest cut is an album made in earnest just for you.
Liz Rowley
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