The Gleaves Issue Quite Possibly (Country) Album of The Year 2025

Metronomy: Greatest Hits c/w BBC Sessions

Straight Outta the Bedroom

Do the tracks on this album capture the essence of the band’s performances, or of a full-on DJ set by Joseph Mount?  How loud do I have to play this music to get a feeling of depth, a sense of weight?  Not that Mount ever claimed his music, which led him from his Totnes bedroom laptop to a life of professional music-making, was to ever be taken more seriously than pop music ever should.

 

The Look is a singular piece of plastic pop perfection.  Opening the album of ‘Greatest Hits’ The Look is the sound of Metronomy, but, it is for many, all that has ever stuck, it is a perfect ear worm of a single.  Initially tapped out on a laptop in a few moments, in a Parisian apartment with a view of Sacré Coeur, it is what pop should be, uplifting, a tune that might be whistled and catchy.

The sound of Metronomy is electronic and boppy, a ‘wonky pop’ band.  This puts their output somewhere within the Stereolab, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) and Hot Chip orbit.  From what Mount has written in the sleeve insert for this collection and listening to the lyrics, I deduce that he’s a man of many words, who enjoys playing with words, who writes in a conversational style, who drops in references to university and Perrier water in his songs.  These are slight songs, light anecdotes from a Euro-centric world.  

The Look sets the tone for all that follows, a little shaft of sunlight to brighten the gloom of any post-truth landscape.  Mount sings, 

 

And to think they said
We'd never make anything better than this. 

Was irony at play when he wrote this?  Did Mount know when he re-opened his laptop that this was the song that would define Metronomy’s work? Everything that has followed the continuing and growing popularity of that delightful Metronomy song, sounds like an experiment. Sometimes a pop record becomes a hit because of its singularity, sounding like an antidote to whatever is common in the poposphere at that time. I think that The Look was one of those. 

Metronomy's Joe Mount, feeling  in the pink

The sleeve notes for this album make mention of the Red Hot Chilli Peppers’ greatest hits collection titled, ‘What Hits?’ being a tongue in cheek name for that issue. On listening to this clutch of songs there is a strong suggestion that Metronomy’s ‘Greatest Hits’ is also a light-hearted album title. After twenty years making music, Metronomy has received lovely endorsements for its new and interesting songs from influential people, but the disposable, transitory nature of the music industry simply means that, like confetti, these songs are just more pretty stuff.  Mount admits that none of these single releases has ever been a significant chart hit.

 

Within the twenty tracks, one stands out as being significantly different, so becoming of interest because of its stark contrast with all the others. The instrumental track You Could Easily Have Me demonstrates how proficient the composer is with producing electronica. I am aware that Joseph Mount does great work re-mixing the music of others, adding embellishments, playing around with the levels and moving the knobs of the desk to deliver interesting variants.  To be honest, I would love to hear a collection of his remixes of other musicians’ work.  I am sure there is plenty out there worth hearing.

 

This album of ‘greatest hits’ confirms that the man enjoys playing with sounds generated from the keyboard. All the tracks are clearly from the house of Metronomy, Love Letters even steals a keyboard phrase from The Look. This is not a greatest hits collection, more a ‘Best of…’ which carries its own ambiguity.

 

The sleeve notes mention curious customers of charity shops finding a copy of this Greatest Hits CD in the year 2053. So, rather than disposable pop, here we have recyclable pop. 

With regard to the BBC sessions, the second CD in the set I received, there are some interesting variations on the original tunes.  They provide far greater texture and substance than the single versions. I enjoyed the BBC sessions immensely.

You can order a signed vinyl copy here  or listen here

Spencer Ide

29th June 2025