To the surprise of very few, Joe Mount has repurposed Metronomy once again, allowing new influences to seep in and muddy the nostalgic, wistful waters the band navigated with such charm on ‘The English Riviera’.
Just as that record looked back, so does 'Love Letters'. Throughout, Mount displays a keen grasp of the musical spectrum, flitting from Roxy Music bombast to melancholy interpretations of ABBA’s pop wiles, all the while allowing hints of ‘60s psychedelia to bubble to the surface. Looking at the record’s cover, pink clouds and all, that perhaps shouldn’t be too much of a surprise either, though.
Recorded at the analogue Toe Rag studios in London, this is Metronomy at their most spare and vulnerable. Just as the eight track restrictions mean that Mount has pared back anything even vaguely extraneous, he has also resisted the urge to bail on ideas that would have been a safer bet in the cosy confines of a gleaming, megabucks studio.
So, his voice cracks on The Upsetter and the keyboards on the Bowie-indebted Reservoir operate in a relay arrangement rather than piling in together to create a depth of sound.
It’s an approach that suits Mount’s more flexible, sometimes grimly sentimental, lyrics, but one that can’t prevent the electro folk of Monstrous or sub-John Carpenter synths of Boy Racers feeling a little bloated.
When it works though, as it does on the retro stomp of the title track or on the more traditional, but endearingly hooky indie of Month Of Sundays, then the basic approach serves Metronomy pretty bloody well.
Wed March 12 2014 - DUBLIN Olympia Theatre
Thu March 13 2014 - LIVERPOOL O2 Academy Liverpool
Fri March 14 2014 - MANCHESTER Ritz
Mon March 17 2014 - NOTTINGHAM Rock City
Tue March 18 2014 - LEEDS O2 Academy Leeds
Wed March 19 2014 - GLASGOW O2 ABC
Thu March 20 2014 - NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE O2 Academy Newcastle
Fri March 21 2014 - BIRMINGHAM HMV Institute
Sun March 23 2014 - PORTSMOUTH Portsmouth Pyramids
Mon March 24 2014 - BRISTOL O2 Academy Bristol
Tue March 25 2014 - OXFORD O2 Academy Oxford
Wed March 26 2014 - NORWICH UEA
Fri March 28 2014 - LONDON O2 Academy Brixton
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