Frothing group hugs at Metronomy’s Rickshaw Stop show

Pub date October 17, 2011
SectionNoise

It’s safe to say that next time Metronomy comes to town, it will be playing a bigger venue. Friday’s show at the Rickshaw Stop was full, and had, to the surprise and dismay of at least a few, sold out a month before. Singer Joseph Mount graciously thanked the audience for snatching up tickets at the rate they did. It’s a sign of the growth Metronomy has had over the course  of three albums, a solo instrumental electronic project of Mount’s now grown into a tight, cool pop group.

The band came on stage, Gbenga Adelekan’s bass-line leading into “We Broke Free” from this year’s The English Riviera (an album which attempts to reclaim Devon, England as an alluring vacation hot-spot.) The bass is the anchor on that track and as a lot of Metronomy’s work, slow and sensual, a place to return to even after the drums, keys and, guitar built into a frenzy midway. Things stayed relaxed.

Which isn’t to say there wasn’t dancing. Just that there wasn’t a lot of extraneous selling required to work the crowd. Mount at one point played a one-sided game of guess-what’s-in-my-Solo-cup* and told a story about driving down to SF and looking for the sea, regally pronouncing Portland as Port Land, but generally, the music spoke for itself. By the time

Metronomy started playing “The Bay,” there were a few shouts of “Amazing!” and an alcohol enabled frothing group hug/dance broke out near the stage, sweaty arms clutching anyone within reach, partly out of comaraderie and partly in need for support.

About equal time was given to the new album as well as 2008’s Nights Out, where Mount first emerged as a catchy lyricist, with a breakdown right in the middle of the show for a few instrumentals from Metronomy’s debut, Pip Paine (Pay The £5000 You Owe). Despite the increased attention the band is getting, there’s still a nice sense that it doesn’t take itself seriously, striking the occasional playful dramatic pose and wearing chest mounted lights that were as goofy as mood enhancing. Also, Oscar Cash’s MIDI sax.

As an encore Metronomy played “Everything Goes My Way,” causing drummer Anna Prior’s voice to be stuck in my head for days, before closing the show with the shout-along “Radio Ladio.”

Set List
1. We Broke Free
2. Love Underlined
3. Back On The Motorway
4. Holiday
5. She Wants
6. Heartbreaker
7. The Bay
8. You Could Easily Have Me
9. The End Of You Too
10. Corinne
11. The Look
12. A Thing For Me
13. On Dancefloors
14. Some Written

Encore
15. Everything Goes My Way
16. Radio Ladio

*Vodka with a sweet and sour mix. “And it was very sweet. And it was very sour.”