Metronomy: Approachable challenges12.09.2019

Six albums and more than 13 years of presence on the world's biggest stages. Does the band have anything left to prove to anyone? We speak to Joseph Mount and Oscar Cash from Metronomy just before their gig at the 1st edition of Fest Festival.

Your new record, “Metronomy Forever” is out shortly. You’ve finished working on it a while ago, can’t change a thing and your fans still haven’t listened to it. Is it stressful or exciting?

Joseph Mount: I find it very exciting, but it does take quite a lot of time to get used to that feeling. You get used to the whole experience. I guess it’s similar to cooking dinner for your friends. Their reaction is never exactly how you want it. The time you put into cooking is greater than the amount of time your friends spend eating the dinner you prepared. You spend hours and hours cooking, and then they eat it in 20 minutes and they just say „thanks, it was nice”. Same goes with making music, even though I actually quite enjoy the madness of spending self-indulgent months thinking about it.

How is this record different from the ones you made in the past? I imagine that an artist has to maintain the balance between what’s already known and what people are expecting and having the artistic urge to do something completely new. Is your way of thinking eclectic?

J: The trick is to reach the compromise. You need to make yourself happy, satisfy yourself and your fans, but at the same time also push yourself creatively. I think it’s the responsibility of the artist – to push people, to make them think differently about music. But at the same time remain approachable enough so that people still want to listen to it. Everyone’s who’s making a record is, at least in theory, trying to make a great record. And all these records that became great in the pop history, one really cannot predict it.

Oscar Cash: You have the initial idea of how the album is going to sound, but it often takes its own turn. It’s out of your control.

Do you often think how the song is going to sound live?

O: It’s funny how some songs turn out to be unexpected bangers. Like this new song “Insecurity”!

J: The decision what will be a banger is literally 80% up to the people. Your control is that you decide which songs you’re gonna put on the set, but the rest is up to the people. There’s this song “Salted Caramel Ice Cream” which I thought would be great live. And I still think it is, but it doesn’t have the same connection with the people that “Insecurity” does. Anyway, it’s just part of the fun. At the end of the day it’s just songs and music, and especially at a festival you’re part of a bigger programme and there’s other bands.

Do you prefer festivals or standalone gigs?

J: There’s a huge difference. At the festivals you’re part of something bigger and have no idea how many people are going to watch you. It’s always a surprise!

A good one?

J: Well, it doesn’t always have to be a good surprise, does it?

O: But it’s been a long time since we’ve been disappointed. I think that at festivals there’s a bit more pressure on the gig. That you have to capture people’s attention.

During the process of making music, do you think of visual aspects of it? The artwork, animations, music videos?

J: All these visual aspects come quite early in the process. Now everything is visual – the stuff we wear in the videos, the artwork, they all inspire each other.

O: I remember when I first saw the mockup of the cover. This collection of songs suddenly changed into a package, a consisted album. It made way more sense to me then.