Welcome to Downtime: a series in which we ask our favourite artists for their cultural recommendations. This month, we catch up with Metronomy frontman Joe Mount.

For the last decade, Metronomy have been the unofficial soundtrack to wistful coming-of- age drives along the coast with your mates – even if they’re just imaginary. The Devon five-piece, led by Joe Mount, are known for their slick brand of electronic-leaning pop that invokes a certain small-town escapism. Last year, Mount expanded on these skills, earning production and co-writing credits on Robyn’s long-awaited comeback album Honey – a life-affirming collection of songs, shimmering with his electro-pop touch. But a recent relocation from Paris to a hilltop in Kent has found him enjoying a quieter life. Here, he tells us what he watches to wind down at home.

01

Gentleman Jack

Dir. Susie Wainwright

It’s that time of year when you have festivals and your life is basically just fitting around music. Lately I’ve been coming back from tour and watching this series called Gentleman Jack. It’s a series about a kind of gentrified landowner who was a lesbian in a time when people could be killed for being gay. The fun thing about this show is that it goes against the trend of binge watching that everyone does. It’s sort of like watching a proper TV series, with the correct intervals, which I enjoy after an intense few weeks.

02

Le Daim

Dir. Quentin Dupieux

This film by Quentin Dupieux – or Mr Oizo – is about a man who becomes possessed by this jacket he owns. “Le Daim” translates to “deerskin” – the material of the jacket – and it just totally takes over his life and starts controlling him. It’s a French comedy featuring Jean Dujardin who was also in The Artist. In short, it’s an absurd but quite intense film about a man and a jacket.

03

Don't Hug Me I'm Scared

Written by Joseph Pelling

I directed the last couple of Metronomy videos, and when I was talking about an idea for the latest one, Salted Caramel Ice Cream, I turned to Michael [Lovett] in the band with an idea for a character who was like a little monster. He said, ‘Oh that sounds like Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared.’ So, I’m totally late to the party – like really late – but I started watching it and it’s incredible. The whole concept of the show seems like such an amazingly obvious idea and one of those things that you’re just like, ‘God, I can’t believe it took this long for somebody to make this’ because it’s been staring everyone in the face for so long. They make me laugh, those weird puppets.

04

Pool Scum

Written by Roy Minton

Pool Scum is made by a studio called Movie Mountain and it’s this cool little animated series. It’s stop motion animation, and has this super cool kind of MTV 2 aesthetic, it’s very stylish. The reason I’ve been properly getting into this kind of handmade art is because when I was younger, I used to really love making model airplanes. There’s just something about making a little world and being able to see it come to life. When you get into making animation, which is really technically brilliant, it’s such a satisfying process.

Metronomy Forever is released on 13 September via Because Music

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