Metronomy
Brixton Academy | 28 March
When you’re seeing one of Britain’s best, the occasion is made more special by the wonderful setting of the Brixton Academy. And the venue’s vast size is certainly appropriate for Metronomy’s current tour. 2011’s beloved The English Riviera rightfully boosted the band’s profile, and now Joseph Mount and his band have returned with Love Letters, a record that feels more organic and understated in comparison.
But this ‘feel’ proves to be rooted primarily in the album’s production. Live, the contrast falls away, everything melts together with maximum charm and efficiency, and the distance between the songs of old records and this new are hardly, if at all, noticeable. The set begins with Monstrous, a new track featuring a wonderfully odd synthesiser reminiscent of the Walter Carlos soundtrack to A Clockwork Orange. It’s this element retro-futurism, delivered with Mount’s impeccable pop sensibility, that makes Metronomy so good, Crack philosophised. But there’s not enough time to ponder such questions as single Love Letters erupts, testing everyone’s high notes before we’re straight onto The Look, the 2011 anthem that boasts one of the most singable synth hooks composed in recent years.
The audience are hyped, clapping in rhythm to an extended rendition of Boy Racers which sees the stage lights flashing in a hazy Top of the Pops fashion. After the well-balanced set of old and new, Metronomy encore with Some Written and Heartbreaker, eventually closing up with The Most Immaculate Haircut. And with that, we bid a bittersweet farewell to the band we’ve fallen even more in love with.
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Words: Tim Oxley Smith
Photo: Phil Sharp
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