95bFM, The Groove Guide, Cheese on Toast the return of...
METRONOMY
Following a sellout Auckland show at the height of summer with Parisian sleaze rockers Teenagers, Brighton synth pop quartet Metronomy return to New Zealand to reignite the passions their first visit aroused. The show was one of the hottest tickets in town, with queues around the block prior to doors opening, and a mad, heady crush inside. The crowd were not disppointed, as Metronomy's legendary live show stunned all in attendance, with songs like Radio Ladio and A Thing For Me (described in Real Groove's review as "pop songs which leap madly and capture their subjects perfectly") becoming pocket-sized anthems.
They felt like a young band at their peak, so it's somewhat surprising that Metronomy have been around in one form or another for a decade. Perhaps this is a result of the world finally catching up with Devon-born singer/mastermind Joseph Mount's kaleidoscopic vision, and the supple, referential dance music he constructs making sense in a musical climate which has seen fellow travelers like Klaxons and Franz Ferdinand (both of whom have been granted fantastic Metronomy remixes) grasp the same audience.
Their most recent album, Nights Out has received rave reviews from all over, with five stars from The Independent, and the NME ranking it the sixth best album of 2008, calling it "a record of slow-maturing majesty". It manages to weave in the proto-techno of Giorgio Moroder, bent Autechre electronics and pure pop thrills which call to mind Hot Chip at their most pure of heart. Self-deprecatingly described by its creator as "a half-arsed concept album about going out and having a crap time", beneath his joke there's the seed of a truth. The album shares with artists like The Streets a perverse joy in chronicling the less glamourous side of the British clubbing experience, the queues, bad drugs and occasional epiphanies which pepper it just frequently enough for you to come back for more.
Metronomy, though, will allow no such fluctuationson the record, with Nights Out traversing dozens of perfect pop moments with a quixotic yet keenly felt vision. Lest anyone think they're in for a re-run of the January triumph, Metronomy have completely re-wired the live experience for the UK summer festivals. Original live member Gabriel Stebbing has dropped out to pursue his own project Your Twenties, and rather than simply relace him Mount and Metronomy have added two members, ditched the backing tracks which they relied on in the past and created an entirely new live show.
"It's just amazing. Fans are responding really well. Everything is now completely live and played by human limbs," he laughs. The new set jettisons all pre-recorded parts, which occasionally kept them on a certain path, in favour of full live instrumentation and the ability to go wherever their spirit leads them (though always in the service of the song). The key element that remains is the band's signature light boxes, strapped to their chests and a defiant statement that the core of the show is and will always be about having fun.
On their last jaunt through the country hundreds missed out on tickets to what was without question the club show of the summer. This is their chance to right those wrongs, and get another bite at what is now one of the best live bands in the world with an entirely new live line-up. If you saw them last time, you'll need know second invitation; if you missed out – don't make the same mistake twice. Metronomy will blow you away.
Metronomy New Zealand Tour
Oct 6th at Montecristo All Ages + R18 with support from Moron Says What?!?!
Oct 7th at SFBH R18 with support from Bang Bange Eche
TICKKETS ONSALE NOW FROM WWW.UNDERTHERADAR.CO.NZ and REAL GROOVY AUCKLAND & WELLINGTON
