Metronomy
Metronomy
O2 ABC, Glasgow
Jonathan Geddes
There were not always sell-out crowds for Metronomy. Towards the end of this gig singer Joe Mount dryly recalled an early show at the small ABC2, where one punter took the effort to show him a phone message that simply read "You're s***". Mount can use it as an anecdote now, but you doubt such criticism ever fazed him.
There has always been a self-assurance about the group, and here they confidently rolled out three new songs from their low-key fourth album Love Letters as an opening salvo. The group's bleeping synths are still present and correct, but their instinct for traditional pop is now more to the fore in a live setting, with Month of Sundays a big, yearning number and Love Letters itself bouncing along on a Wall of Sound drumbeat, played expertly by Anna Prior.
Ironically, much of Love Letters, the album, points to a more reserved style than their break-through record The English Rivera, and not all the tonal shifts survived the trip unscathed. The finger clicking doo-wop of My Aquarius and the languid, cold vibe of The Upsetter seemed to spark much audience chatter, although the pounding, relentless electronica of instrumental Boy Racers fared far better. This was evidently a crowd more geared to dance than any sort of introspection.
Luckily, the group were able to support their low-tempo moments with rushes of energy from the past. Holiday still resembles a long-lost 1980s movie theme, Radio Ladio presented a handy, shoutable chant, led by bassist Olugbenga Adelekan and Corrine and The Bay whipped by in euphoric, rave-friendly fashion. For all that Mount focuses on his lyrics, as a live band Metronomy seem most skilled at jubilant pop with clever edges attached. There are worse things to be.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article