Music, Style & Culture

Metronomy: All Change

Joseph Mount tells us about Metronomy's new album, 'The English Riviera'.

With their ever changing line up and their constantly evolving sound, it’s hard to nail down just what Metronomy are. Sitting opposite DIY, and with a new album on the near horizon, Joseph Mount is happily tucking into a pizza. Words: Harriet Jennings. Photography: Phil Sharp

“I wanted to change,” he smiles.

And change they certainly have. Metronomy started life as a bedroom-based operation for Joseph Mount; a nice little hobby making music on a battered old computer. However, a hobby with a name always has a little bit more going for it.

“It comes from a young boy - me aged 16, 17 - thinking “Metronomy... that’s a bit like ‘metronome’, and it’s also like the word ‘astronomy’! Haha!” But I’m very happy I’ve stuck with the name. The great thing about it is that it sounds great in every language. French and Japanese people have a particularly nice way of saying it.”

The name was about all that stuck. 2006 saw Mount move to Brighton and release debut album ‘Pip Paine (Pay the £5000 You Owe)’, which soon caught the attention of his contemporaries. It wasn’t until Erol Alkan’s regular inclusion of single ‘You Could Easily Have Me’ in his sets that it occurred to Mount that Metronomy could be set for big things. Live requests filtered through, and Joseph recruited friends Gabriel Stebbing and Oscar Cash to help him perform.

“I don’t like it when you feel that bands aren’t really pushing themselves,” Joseph explains, and perhaps that’s why follow up ‘Nights Out’ had the air of a second debut album, if such a thing were possible. This time vocal-led and with Joseph taking his place in front of a microphone, the record proved to be a great success. Acquiring critical acclaim, and allowing Joseph and co. to tour worldwide, it put Metronomy firmly on the map.

“We ended up, after the last album, touring for what felt like two years.” But putting on a show has always been important to Mount. Famed for their strange dance routines and light shows, Metronomy have built themselves a solid live reputation.

“If you’re a band of our level, it really counts. People don’t really buy CDs as much as they used to. If the record label sees you’re doing potentially alright somewhere, they’re like, “Go there! Tour! We wanna sell more!”” But life on the road isn’t always sunshine and rainbow dust; “After a while, you do just wanna go home, watch telly and sit down”, he shrugs. “You do need breaks. You need reasonable breaks.”

With the album release imminent, Metronomy are trialing new material on the road. “We’ve started playing the new ones now. It will definitely help with the show. What’s nice about it is, because this record’s a bit more atmospheric, when you put it alongside the songs from ‘Nights Out’, we have a much more dynamic set.”

It’s not always easy to mix in something new, however. “It’s always really nerve-wracking because the songs that people know they sing-along to, obviously, but then when you start a new one they just stop moving and listen really intently. It’s really weird, and you have to wait until the very end to see if they liked it - if they clap or not. But by and large, it’s going really well. I think the fans seem very into it. I think they get it, they really get the whole thing.”

Which is lucky, considering the new album is all change again. This is the first record since 2009’s lineup switch, which saw Gabriel leave and Anna Prior (drums) and Ghenga Adelekan (vocals and bass guitar) step forwards.

“The new album is called ‘The English Riviera’, and after the last one, I wanted to change; to do something different, just for the sake of keeping things interesting. To do something that felt like it was a kind of progression.

“Because our previous stuff has been so computer based and programmed, I wanted it to be much more musical in terms of people playing. Me, Oscar, Anna and Ghenga, and also Gabriel, who used to be in the band, he played on the album quite a lot.

“It was the first thing that I’ve done in a studio, and because previously it was all bedroom stuff, it sounded, I guess, quite like bedroom stuff.”

With a new studio environment to work in, Joseph felt that he was able to explore new musical ideas. “I’m really used to knowing what the potential is, what the possibilities are. If you’re just working on your own in your room, you kind of know: you’re limited by yourself.

“To know that I was going to take it into this place, I was able to consciously not finish songs so that there was this space to enjoy it. Because I don’t actually know how to use a studio, I was working with an engineer, a guy called Ashley Workman. It’s a conscious thing, trying to be more sociable.”

Constant change and a concerted effort to progress in terms of sound certainly keeps things interesting. But how will fans know what’s coming next? And, more importantly, how will Joseph know if they’ll like it?

“People still like the classics. They don’t know the new ones yet,” he answers confidently. “The most enjoyable thing is just recording stuff, and then as soon as you’re getting closer to finishing it, you feel this sense of looming fear. Once it’s done the press people start sending out samplers or playing people stuff and then you realise that, oh my God, now I’m just nervous until the record comes out. Then you see what happens.”

Metronomy have no need to fear the critics, with numerous publications rating the last album very highly indeed. “I guess when it happens - the first time it happens - it’s just a really nice surprise. But then, because it’s happened once, your bar is set quite high.” Of course, that can impact on the way you write. “I guess on a subconscious level it’s like, “Oh shit, they think it’s good, keep doing good things.” You can’t help but imagine what they might think of it. It’s obviously a bit of an unhealthy way to do stuff, to try to imagine that you’re trying to please people. I think, maybe unless you’re so drug-addled that you literally can’t think, it’s impossible to not.”

It seems that word of Joseph’s talents has reached the pop world. After doing remixes for the likes of Gorillaz and Franz Ferdinand, and collaborating with Kate Nash and Florence And The Machine, Mount has been approached to write with Girls Aloud member Nicola Roberts.

“We did a few things...” he smirks. “I’ve always been really interested in writing with different people, and I’ve always been into pop music and found it interesting. For a while, I’ve been doing lots of little bits and bobs with people. Like there was some Sophie Ellis-Bextor stuff that I did.”

Try as he might, there’s no steering the conversation away at this point. We want to know more about the Nicola situation.

“An email just came through saying “do you wanna have a go at writing some songs with her.” It’s like “well, yeah”. It’s a no brainer for me. I’m a fan. I guess you get people who try to do that because if you do a song with her and it is a hit single, you’re gonna make some money.

“It’s such a ridiculous situation to find yourself in that you’re just going from seeing this person on TV or in tabloids, and the next thing, you’re embarking on this creative adventure together. It’s kind of the exact opposite of the way that you see those people in the press. You’re suddenly in probably the most... well, not quite the most... intimate situation, where you’re talking about lyrics and song meanings. It’s very surreal but very enjoyable.”

So could the future see Metronomy taking a turn for the pop? “I do that as a hobby more than anything. It’s just fun.”

Whatever Joseph Mount has up his sleeves next, we’re sure it’ll be different again.

Metronomy’s new album ‘The English Riviera’ is released on 11th April via Because Music.

Taken from the April 2011 issue of DIY, available now. For more details click here.