REVIEW: Metronomy - The English Riviera

Metronomy
The English Riviera
(out of 5)

The official website describes The English Riviera using words and phrases such as ‘relaxation and convalescence’, ‘a unique experience’, a ‘romantic' location during the Napoleonic Wars.

Fittingly, Metronomy’s third record bearing the same name begins with baroque and sounds of the quaint British seaside. The British idea of a ‘trip to the beach’ may not be in the same league as some “Forgetting Sarah Marshall-type” Hawaiian escapade or Coromandel free-camping experience with your best friends, but it’s the coast all the same, and I would say it definitely beats a chilly flat in Hamilton during one of TV3’s ‘arctic blasts’.

The theme of the record appears to emulate the holidaying activities of the wealthy English upper class with its tainted air of sophistication (or snobbery – I guess it depends on your perspective). The first song, 'We Broke Free', holds no pretensions about where real power lies ('So get yourself fixed up,
I'll take you out ‘round town/Thank God, the gold is mine').

Just like a proper summer holiday, romance is in the air. "And now you’re giving me the look’ (‘The Look’) and he’s “in love again” (‘Everything Goes My Way’) – summer can be easy like that.

All good things must come to an end, however, and it seems the British summer is no different – 'you may have the money/but you have to go'; goodbye to 'those beaches that go on and on’. Though he will ‘take you back someday' (‘The Bay’).

The English Riviera is a proper album; needing to be listened to in one go from start to finish. Metronomy have retained their signature sound; chipper orchestration, falsetto melodies, and those ever-present Arabic-sounding synthesisers. It is all good.

Summer in New Zealand is not so far away, and though I wouldn’t call The English Riviera a ‘summer album’ (it’s too English-sounding), it will keep me company until the snow melts and those Coromandel and/or West Coast beaches warm up a bit. 

By Theo Sangster.