Metronomy

Metronomy – Small World (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 35:00 minutes | 434 MB | Genre: Indie Pop
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Because Music Ltd.

Now on album number seven, Metronomy has continued where many of their 2000s ‘cool’ band peers have dropped off along the way. Small World is a return to simple pleasures, nature, an embracing in part of more pared down, songwriterly sonics (some moments wouldn’t sound amiss on a Wilco release), all while asking broader existential questions: which feels at least somewhat rooted in the period of time during which it was made – 2020. For all that Mount seems to think he has made a comparatively sombre record, much of Small World still pulses with the zesty, tongue-in-cheek joie de vivre you’d expect of a Metronomy record.
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Metronomy – Metronomy Forever (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 54:49 minutes | 625 MB | Genre: Electronic, Synth-pop
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Because Music

The follow-up to 2016’s ‘Summer 08’, ‘Metronomy Forever’ features 17 tracks. Its length is born from a desire for breathing room, from not wanting to stuff the hits together like a bouquet of petrol station roses – a modern way of listening to music. Metronomy’s innate skill for blending off-kilter funk, energising club vibes and esoteric pop is interspersed with some mood-setting, glistening and melodic electronic tracks. The band’s leader Joseph Mount called upon a variety of inspirations for this album. Most notably, he wanted to replicate the feeling of listening to the radio, with an infinite quality, sumptuous songs of different styles, ever rolling, helping to lighten your mood. Moving away from the bustle of his former Parisian home to take up residence atop a hill in the garden of England had an impact, infusing the album with a sense of tranquillity and a calm joy that reflects the relative happiness of his existence. Also influential was time spent working on Robyn’s critically adored ‘Honey’ album, with a similar feeling of emotional, intense, carnal mania informing songs such as ‘Sex Emoji’ and ‘Salted Caramel Ice Cream’.

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Metronomy – Love Letters (2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 41:25 minutes | 904 MB | Genre: Electronic, Synth-pop
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Because Music Ltd.

Given the critical and commercial success of The English Riviera, Metronomy could have easily spent another album or two expanding on its polished, erudite pop. However, they’re too mercurial a band to do the obvious thing. On Love Letters, they abandon their previous album’s sleek precision for fuzzy analog charm.

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