Metronomy's third album, The English Riviera, sees the group abandon the hyperactive indie-dance that has characterised their previous releases in favour of a more restrained, deliberate pace. The main impact that this choice has had is that it has opened up the space in their music, allowing injections of subtlety and poise into the mix making this Metrononmy's best album to date.
The English Riviera couldn't be much further removed from their previous release Pip Paine and Nights Out, which were primarily long, hard party records. Well, if they were party records The English Riviera is the long lie-in the next morning.
The opening instrumental (and title) track features the sound of swathes of waves lapping against the shore, mingling with the squawk of seagulls, giving the mind's eye and impression of a sunny beach but this is anything but a 'summer album' - it's a little too downbeat for that - but it's certainly one of the best albums of its kind so far this year.
We Broke Free, with its looping bass-line and dreamy synth, is a track that could well have been written by Phoenix. Roxanne Clifford's gorgeous vocals on the outstanding Everything Goes My Way are another particular highlight.
This album establishes band-leader Joseph Mount as a musician of some great import and is by far their most mature work to date. You might suspect that his bandmates might have taken some convincing to produce an album which was something of a 180 from the niche that they'd already worked to carve for themselves. Good thing, though. The English Riviera redefines Metronomy and, even if the album struggles to maintain its momentum as it draws to a close, it opens them up for the world to see in a whole new light.
