- Mon, 2011-01-31 14:43
Metronomy provoked many a foolish grin and more than a few spontaneous outbursts of fancy footwork with the release of their second album Nights Out back in 2008. Packed with lopsided pop classics issued forth from a bevy of deranged synthesizers and chattering guitars, the band sounded something akin to a mischievous Hot Chip on a sugar-high. It was glorious.
Now the Devonshire crew are preparing to return with a shuffled line-up (long-standing bassist Gabriel Stebbing has left to put his energies into the excellent Your Twenties) and a new full-length offering entitled The English Riviera. The first taster of that highly-anticipated album comes in the shape of She Wants, available as a free download from www.metronomy.co.uk.
Opening with a bass-line pacing distractedly over a low, unidentified hum, singer Joseph Mount soon sidles into the picture accompanied by a furtively shaken tambourine. As he tells us about creeping silently into the bedroom where his already-sleeping lover lies, the atmosphere conjured is hushed and tense, coming on as a whispered take on Modern Guilt era Beck. The chorus then announces itself with a sharp stab of guitar, and the popping bass takes on a funky shuffle as the gentle vocal melodies slip by one after another. A second verse and chorus follow before an extended outro swells and loops, reflecting the sensation of distended time that occupies Joseph’s thoughts as he continually murmurs the first half of the chorus couplet “the hours come, the hours go…”
It’s eerie indie-disco for that muted early-morning place that sits somewhere between yesterday and tomorrow, and it’s ruddy marvellous.
