So, after a month of for summer hi-jinx – getting married! moving house! raising kids! Listening to music! – we’re back, back, back!
So here’s the long-awaited new offering from a band that are very beloved of this parish. Off the back of a pretty sweltering run of belting singles leading up to the album, the question on everyone’s lips (well, mine anyway): have they finally made an album that can stand up to their masterpiece, THE ENGLISH RIVIERA.
But then it’s never easy with Metronomy, so even answering that question is quite tricky. Joe Mount is such a wilful bastard, and clearly likes doing whatever the fuck he wants, and never more than on this 17 track album that features 6 instrumentals. Chasing the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame is not top of Mount’s aims in life.
The answer is YES and NO at the same time, and because it’s Metronomy, I think you probably know what I mean. It is undeniably the band’s strongest offering in years, and thought Summer 08 had a couple of belting tunes on it, I personally don’t think they’ve made a properly cohesive album since Riviera. For the record, I thought Love Letters was a steaming pile of crap.
Forever has two very very big things going for it. Firstly, it has a really wonderful set of songs on it. From Lately to Salted Caramel Ice Cream to Insecurity to The Light to Sex Emoji (yes, even Sex Emoji), this is an album overflowing with funky, fresh ideas and the kind of Metronomy songs you long for – the kind you’d end up adding to a Best of Spotify compilation.
The second thing I love about this album is that it really does feel like a complete piece of work. Songs flow into each other, and even some of the instrumentals, which I initially found indulgent and overly-long, really start to come alive (a work trip with a lot of walking around London with my headphones changed my view on these). You can hear Morodor and early Daft Punk and even some kind of freak folk influences on some of these, and I think it’s quite brave of Mount to go for it, when you could have just have made a very tight 9 track belter.
However, let’s not kid ourselves. Any 17 track album has superfluous filler. Hell, even The White Album’s got Bungalow Bill and Wild Honey Pie. The second half of the album is perhaps lighter on the really strongest stuff, and it starts to sag a little. And there are moments when Mount’s use of repetition – which he uses SO cleverly in his songs – is just too self-indulged. Mount himself jokingly said the album was pretentious and too long when he was asked about it. Or maybe he wasn’t joking. Who knows?
So sure, in time I’ll probably flick past the odd track or two. And there are moments that are a lot less than necessary. But mostly, it feels vital and fresh and 20 times more interesting than anything most artists are doing, let alone after nearly two decades (yup!) of making music.
Metronomy Forever? You betcha.
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