Tag Archives: Metronomy

Live music review: Metronomy

5 Oct

A defining period in the Barclaycard Mercury-prize nominated band Metronomy’s gig was the uplifting sight of keyboard player/saxophonist Oscar Cash being wheeled around the stage from right to left and then back again as he played the synthesizer on the band’s song The Look. The group’s Royal Albert Hall gig this week was fun from beginning to end.

Bassist Gbenga Adelekan drove the funkiness and energy of their electropop repertoire. Anna Prior, shimmering vivaciously in a green sequin catsuit wowed as the exuberant drummer and lead singer/keyboardist/guitarist/founder Joseph Mount topped it all off with his melodious voice and love for the audience.

No one was sitting by the third song and there was certainly no cause to sit down again. Each band member sported their trade mark oversized circular lights which flashed in time to the music in different sequences. They whipped through tracks from their most recent album The English Riviera and 2008’s Nights Out. All of the songs worked live except for one of my favourites on the latest album. In Love Underlined, the swirling overlay music sounds running through the track overpowered the band’s instruments and the Joseph’s voice both times that I’ve seen them live. Apart from this imperfection, it was one big party that seemed over too soon.

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Wireless Festival 3 July: Pulp, Grace Jones, Metronomy etc

18 Jul

A little Metronomy who played at Wireless:

Despite the best intentions, I found myself drifting back in time when Pulp played the Wireless festival in Hyde Park this year. When one of their best known songs features your name over and over again and references the year 2000 – you can’t help but look back. The past can be a dangerous place to delve into. Either it’s painted with a certain rose-coloured perspective that didn’t really exist or, alternatively, you may see only pain. The purpose of life is to experience, learn and be wiser in the present and appreciate the joy that people can bring to your life if you don’t get caught up in some image that really isn’t important. Therefore I threw off the past and concluded that Pulp hadn’t really changed that much from when I’d seen them in the nineties. Yes, they have grown older but Jarvis is still a show-man regaling us with tales and jumping around the stage. The set focused on the A Different Class album but my friend and I concluded that maybe it could have benefitted from a bit more of the edgy This is Hardcore. But, as this was when their popularity seemed to start to wane those years ago, maybe it was possibly a wise move to limit it in a comeback gig.

Grace Jones, who was on stage before them, was fabulous of course. How she manages to slink around the stage in those heels and hoola hoop all through Slave to the Rhythm just has to be seen.

Metronomy added much perkiness earlier in the day. I only wish their set was longer. I was also intrigued by whether The Horrors would smile and I can reveal that the keyboard player let one slip out every now and again while other band members hid behind their hair. TV on the Radio were lively while The Hives coordinated their formal evening wear perfectly.

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Music review: Metronomy’s The English Riviera

15 May

To be honest it’s been very difficult to prise the third album from British band Metronomy from my hands over the last week. It’s a glamorous companion to Spring and Summer evenings, most definitely with the once soaring sun starting to wane, ready to be replaced by the moon.

The beach scene is set by the sound of waves lapping the sand when it starts. We are taken to an early Bowie-esque vibe with We Broke Free but this is by no means the feel of The English Riviera. Next up is a completely contrasting dulcet duet Everything Goes My Way about a reunited couple. The album is interspersed with funky electronica on tracks like The Look and The Bay. She Wants, seemingly about sleeplessness, is reminiscent of the eighties – a touch like the slightly mysterious feel of the band Japan. The album comes to a climactic closure with Love Underlined. Unusually, every track is a gem. Founder of the band, James Mount from Devon, has, with this current line-up of the band, put together an addictive collection.

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