Metronomy

P1020586

Artist: Metronomy
Venue: Rock City, Nottingham, UK
Date: 14th February 2012
Rating: 8.6

It’s Valentines Day and what better way to spend this romantic occasion than in a full capacity venue full of over excited music fans that resemble a murky sweat box. The love tonight is reserved for a very special four piece that have captured a number of hearts since their inception. Metronomy, the brainchild of the talented Joe Mount have gone from strength to strength in recent years, winning fans over with the quirky bedroom engineered dance music of Nights Out LP and then following this with equally sublime The English Riviera.

Tonight will see the quartet rush through choice cuts from the aforementioned records that cause pandemonium from the swaying masses. Kicking things off with ‘Some Written’, the twisted seaside influenced jam slowly gathers pace as the tracks sedate beginnings gear up to a feverous crescendo causing Rock City’s spring-loaded floor to creak under the pounding feet bouncing upon it. What works so wonderfully tonight is how Metronomy manage to drop and raise the tempo like a DJ set, creating widespread euphoria in a moment and then all out carnage the next. ‘Everything Goes My Way’ with vocals supplied by drummer Anna Prior, captures the band in a laidback reflective mood, while ‘ A Thing For Me’ and ‘Radio Ladio’ sets pulses raising with the band’s uniquely distorted dancefloor slayers. It does seem that the band channel Doctor Who through their synths on stage as the contorted noise belching forth is nothing short of science fiction worthy. The throbbing basslines supplied by Gbenga Adelekan carry a thread of funk delivered all the way from funky town itself!

Adoration is shown evenly to the older material and the newer output from The English Riviera this evening. ‘The Bay’ and ‘The Look’ receive rapturous responses from the crowd as does ‘Heartbreaker’. The throbbing ‘Love Underlined’ sees the band push the exhilaration levels to the max as the tracks contagious rhythms wash over the collective masses.

The band are in a playful mood throughout the performance as the omnipresent light orbs that adorn their chests pulse and flicker in time with their sonic projections. Equally Oscar Cash on synths throws the most peculiar shapes whilst coaxing out the bands more unique layers of sound. Only a British band could get away with such eccentricity and still make it look charming.

Photography by Naomi Abbs

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