Metro Grade: Hot Press meets Metronomy

Mtronomy’s Joseph Mount and myself both grew up in the south west of England. We can each admit it had a certain charm and certainly helped shape our outlook. As Joe – now living in London – says, however, “I tried to move away as far as I could from Devon!”

Metronomy’s last album, The English Riviera, was well reviewed. But Joe didn’t know what to do next. One thing's for sure, he didn't want to repeat himself. For a while he was stumped.

“I felt with ... Riviera that it was the same way I'd always done things, with a computer screen and editing. I became a little disheartened. I thought I should try to record it in analogue, for the sense of achievement and craftsmanship that I’m after.”

That record is Love Letters. There's a lot going on – just don’t call it a concept album. “If you’ve made a concept record, it implies that you’ve really thought about it," he laughs. "I just wanted to talk about music in a different way.”

The way Mount tells it, an album creates a theme or idea, even if you haven’t thought about it in those terms. Often, it's only at the end of the process that you realise what you've created.

“I wanted it to be a bit of a psychedelic record. If you listen to the best psychedelic records, they’re the ones that create these little spaces within each song.”

The cover art encapsulates that ‘60s psychedelic ideal. The single ‘Love Letters’ also has a Roxy Music sound to it. Are there any modern influences on the project or is Mount happy to have both feet in the past?

“I have a bedrock of influences... Bowie, Talking Heads etc. When I was younger I'd go through phases of listening to things like DJ Shadow. There's always that foundation of stuff. I’m adding to it.”

Metronomy put a lot of thought into how they present themselves on stage and in videos, with the recent ‘Love Letters’ promo shot by famed director and serial White Stripes collaborator Michel Gondry.

“It was amazing, he’s a very relaxed guy to work with, very unpretentious and excited about doing what he’s doing. He’s a person I never imagined doing a video for Metronomy, so it was really rewarding.”

Does this mean that the upcoming Metronomy tour will include some Gondry-esque visual art? “Not quite in that way. I’m not a massive fan of visuals. It works really well for certain bands when playing like... enormodomes. I think we'll concentrate on more subtle stylistic things.”

So no plans for stadiums? “We’re playing places like Brixton Academy. If you go beyond that, the venue gets too big and you lose the audience. I feel when you get to that kind of level you have to dilute what you do to appeal to 20,000 people in one city. Smaller venues are a more rewarding experience.”

Fans are clearly very important to Metronomy and Joe has a special connection with them. One new, more personal connection is with his first child, born last year. Has that changed anything?
“It helped me get this record done," he laughs again. "I’m not one for dedications but my outlook has changed in a nice way.”

Love Letters is out on March 10, and Metronomy play The Olympia, Dublin on March 12.