Metronomy is back. One Joseph Mount, the Devon-born don of odd-tronica returns with his fifth album Summer '08 (out via Because Music on July 1). As you can see from the photo above, his vibe is very chill. It's been two years since Love Letters, and five since The English Riviera, the record that really broke Metronomy, pushing Mount from being a bedroom beat maker with a bizarre falsetto to an artist with critical clout and comerical appeal without sacrificing the weird quotient. You remember that year whe "The Bay" was everywhere.Still, one of our favorite albums is his second one Nights Out—a collection that was undeniably pop but beamed down from an alien planet. The bass on "Heartbreaker" combined with what sounds like a squeaking door? Brilliant. Turns out this fifth record is Mount looking back to the simplicity of this era.“I had those other albums—and how I wanted to record in bigger studios—out of my system,” he explains. “I wanted to make another record with the naivety of Nights Out: ten tracks, straight up, upbeat. Write another banger, then another, and don’t really think about it.”Below is the video for the first track "Old Skool." Directed by Dawn Shadforth it features Catastrophe’s Sharon Horgan and Game of Thrones’ Ben Crompton. Apparently it was in part inspired by Mike Leigh’s Abigail’s Party. There's a lot of flammable fabric. Sharon Horgan's hair looks like a hedge but she's still fabulous. A bald head is caressed. Honestly it looks like a 70s key party which could descend into a fleshy partner swapping orgy at any moment. Except it doesn't. It's much more wholesome than that. After all the quiche lorraine, cheese on sticks, and god awful deviled eggs, turns out this lamé-clad crew just want to get down.Musically it's certainly a return to the feel of Nights Out: the bass, the synth throbs, it works a minimalist, glacial kind of groove… and then there's Beastie Boys' Mix Master Mike on the decks towards the end, which definitely isn't anything like '08, but a sweet addition nonetheless.“I was living in East London in 2008 and felt like all this stuff was happening in the West end," explains Mount of the lyrics. "It's nonsense really, but I felt it was this privileged end of town, all the musicians there had wealthy parents and were living in Ladbroke Grove and Notting Hill. So that song's about being totally idiotic and just jealous.”Although the LP is nearly out (and it features a duet with Robyn!), Mount won't be hitting the road with his regular crew (Oscar Cash, Anna Prior et al). He's taking a pause from touring to be a dad to two little ones in Paris. Until Summer '08 then, just watch this:Pre-order Summer '08 now.
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