Music Existence Because of Music, We Exist
As the fall weather made its way down to the south, so did Britain’s beloved modern pop act Metronomy. With their new album Love Letters now released, the hype for Metronomy is massive. After all, Love Letters is the first release since the group’s 2011 Barclaycard Mercury Prize-nominated album, The English Riviera.
As Metronomy made their entrance to the Mohawk stage in Austin, the crowd of roughly 200+ was immediately electrified with joy and eagerness to ride the rollercoaster of smooth vibes, jamming bass lines, and electrifying synth. Dressed in white suits, the stage electrified with blasts of colorful lights and the gang known for their 60’s dance moves, kicked off the show with several songs from The English Riviera, including all time favorite The Bay. The cool and smooth vibe of this song lead perfectly into a sneak peak of the new album with Love Letters, a more static yet just as fun rhythm single. In a recent interview we had with Joseph Mount, the singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist mentioned they recorded the new album on 8 track as opposed to digital recording. Mount desired to get a more raw sound for the new album and the technique also served as the inspiration for the album’s title and second single, Love Letters. Seeing that writing a love letter, in this new age of digital communication, is something that requires more “effort and passion”.
Metronomy continued the Austin show with several more big hits from their previous album. Everything Goes My Way showcased Anna Prior’s sweet innocent voice. Along with Metronomy’s catchiest song, The Look. The combination of high-pitched vocals, the smooth and jazzy synth all mixed in with a serene guitar and bass sound provided one of the highlights of the show. For the next song, Anna and Gbenja took a short break from their drum and bass to join Oscar and Michael to serve as back-up singers while Mount enlightened us with his soulful voice flaunting the amount of effort and dedication he has put into every aspect of his musical career.
When asking about the writing process, Joe stated he writes based on personal relationships from the past and his current views on things. Ultimately the goal, “is to not be too personal’ but have some emotion attached to it. “Otherwise, people wouldn’t be into the music.”, he said. He is also greatly inspired from the staples of the 60’s; The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Fleetwood Mac, and even his love for R&B, which we could hear perfectly in the next song they played, I’m Aquarius. This highly anticipated song brought out the heartache of a relationship gone wrong and with the small trembles in Mount’s voice we all felt the passion and pain sometimes caused by love.
The rest of the performance consisted of bouncing back between pop beats and smooth dance jams from both albums and instrumental track Boy Racers, which served as a small break for Joe before returning on stage to end the show with the highly acclaimed Months of Sunday and satisfied the crowd with an encore performance shortly afterwards.
As Metronomy continue to play more shows and festivals, their performance also continues to grow, reinforcing the place they hold in this electronic-pop genre. With style and sound that you just can’t get enough of, the unique twist they offer the world of dance and electronic music is one to be heard, cherish, and fought to keep.
Words by Crystal Perez
Photos by Tyler Kapper
