Mercury-nominated British indie-pop, electronic group, Metronomy recently released their seventh studio album, 'Small World'.
The nine-track project finds the band fronted by Joseph Mount returning to simple pleasures, nature, and an embracing in part a more pared down, songwriter sonics, all while asking broader existential questions."It's really great that the album is out, a relief to be honest, I hope you enjoy it."
Life And Death
A soaring and painterly opening track finds Mount contemplating the surreal sadness of existence over piano and a shuffling, intricate beat."There's a point at which I had done most of the album, and I felt weird not acknowledging the sadness of the past couple years," he says.
"I'd sort of been skirting around this idea of this record being made when it was, but then I thought 'why not do something a bit sad?'."
Things Will Be Fine
Mount points to the nature of raising young children during the pandemic (but also in general), having them ask questions when you have no real clue about what is going to happen yourself, and so "mindlessly being like, 'things are gonna be fine'."He is innately an optimistic person though, and the song mirrors that with its sugary licks of guitar and plush organs. It's a sweet bop that serves as comforting reassurance too.
It's Good To Be Back
Warm, bouncy synths underpin typically serene vocal harmonies, this is the record's most joyous, bright and breezy song.While the album overall is perhaps the most austere or 'grown-up' of Metronomy's output thus far, this has its roots in more unapologetic dance-y pop – or, as Mount puts it: "If you were playing the whole record in your car and your kids hated it, they might at least like this song. This is the cool song," he laughs.
Loneliness On The Run
Over echoey guitar riff and taut percussion, Mount says the blues-y song ruminates on how you could be proactive about loneliness, making a case for chasing it away.Love Factory
Though it sounds like gleaming, psych-inflected piano pop with swooning vocals, and lyrically it seems light and almost funny (a refrain is: "Her love is like a factory – oh, she's so industrious!"), there is a darker undertone here that you might miss on first listen."It's a post-apocalyptic song," Mount explains. "A man and a woman are trying to figure out what to do as the last people on Earth and then at the end, the insinuation is that one of them has died."
I've Lost My Mind
With cyclical flecks of rich instrumentation and vocals that ebb and flow, this unfurls into something quite vast and almost cosmic as it goes on."It's kind of a meditation on living the same thing over and over again, and thinking you're going a bit crazy," Joseph says, "but more worrying about other people in your life going through that."
Right On Time
Deliciously euphoric and smooth, with its glorious string moments, this happy song embraces enjoying the sun and taking pleasure in small, sweet things in life.
Hold Me Tonight
Opening with a dreamy, reverb-y guitar before the frantic beat kicks in, there's a tremulous and tremendous guest vocal from Dana Margolin from Porridge Radio that serves as a rebuttal in the second half.Mount has been in a relationship for over ten years and has kids, and so he's conscious that he's getting away from the meat of pop music (aka yearning). And so, with this song he's using scraps and memories: "Trying to imagine, possibly for the last time, a situation where you like someone and they don't like you back."
I Have Seen Enough
A soft and spacious waltz of sorts, Joseph says his original concept for this song was in French (his girlfriend is French), before it translated its way back to English.It's about that concept of almost-horror movie curiosity, where you've seen enough but still, you can't look away. "It's life, isn't it?" Mount says.
"It's gruesome, and there's all kinds of horrible stuff, but you're compelled to keep looking and be involved. "Everything can be difficult, but people are still trying to make things better and enjoy it."
