Tom Kinney talks to Metronomy's Joseph Mount ahead of a dazzling show at Oran Mor

Sat outside the ever-so-trendy Hillhead Bookclub in Glasgow, Joseph Mount sips his pint and rolls a cigarette. Metronomy have just had to help remove a rather odorous fridge from their tour bus. The description of the smell emanating from the bus is altogether unpleasant, but with a sold-out tour and a year of remarkable success behind them, Metronomy are not in the mood for complaining.

It is clear that Joseph sees this Mercury nomination as important for Metronomy, as it “opened up their appeal” and caused  “people who were intrigued about us, but hadn’t really bothered” to listen. Whilst not eventually winning the award, Mount feels that Metronomy “benefited much more from the nomination than some other bands on the list.”

With the huge success of The English Riviera, Metronomy have gained an awful lot of new followers, and any old fans might be apprehensive that the band will change their live set to cater for them. Mount quells any fears of this, explaining that “it would be a bit odd to change what you do because suddenly you’ve got this broader appeal.” He has got the impression so far from the tour that people coming to see them for the first time “seem to get it and really enjoy it,” and sees the new fans as “just a bit late to the party”.

One hour and two support acts later, the band arrives on stage at Oran Mor to the sounds of “The English Riviera”, the title track of their latest album, before moving seamlessly into “We Broke Free”, the subsequent track on The English Riviera. This eases any new fans into their live show, which helps provide a brilliant initial atmosphere which is sustained throughout. However, this is not a show geared towards new fans by any means, with as many tracks from Nights Out as The English Riviera. It   is evident throughout the show that new fans are embracing tracks from the older albums, and none more so than “You Could Easily Have Me”, the only song played from debut album Pip Paine (Pay Back The £5000 You Owe). As it moves to its crescendo of distorted keyboards the whole crowd bounces along, despite this being its first airing for many of them.

With the crowd responding with equal eagerness to songs from all albums, it’s a shame that Metronomy only manage to play one track from Pip Paine, but Mount reveals this is largely due to the fact that many of these songs they “physically can’t play without it seeming like there’s loads missing.” The only other notable absense from  the setlist is current single “Everything Goes My Way”. Metronomy have yet to play this track live at all, as the recorded version features vocals from Veronica Falls’ Roxanne Clifford. However, Joe reveals that they’ve been rehearsing it, with drummer Anna singing her part. They’ve had to buy an acoustic guitar, a cowbell and a shaker in order to play it live, and Mount feels that “it’s going to be this really nice moment in the set.”

The enthusiasm and the energy displayed by Metronomy is magnificent throughout the evening, from engaging the receptive spectators with stories of previous ventures to Scotland, to the stand out track of a marvellous set “A Thing For Me”. Bass player Gbenga smiles and dances throughout the song, and as the band members point to themselves and the crowd in the obvious places to lyrics “I’ve got a thing for you/ You’ve got a thing for me”, this sense of involvement lifts an already fervent Oran Mor.

After the encore Anna Prior returns to the stage to play the bossa nova drumbeat to “Some Written” before the rest of the band re-emerge one-by-one to play what is a surprisingly brilliant rendition. Mount mentions that for The English Riviera they didn’t rehearse together before they recorded, and now when they play live “it sounds as good as it did on the record.” This is noticeable throughout the set, but on “Some Written” the sound of Metronomy is even more perfect than on the album. As the song reaches its organ refrain, the crowd begins singing along to what Mount is playing. The smiles on the faces of Metronomy are evident, and they pause midway through to explain that no crowd has ever sung along to that part before.

With the crowd now feeling rather pleased with themselves, final track of the night “Radio Ladio” sees a boisterous performance from both Metronomy and their adoring fans. As everyone in Oran Mor screams “Her name is R-A-D-I-Oooooh/ L-A-D-I-Oooooh”, the only thing that could have possibly improved this wonderful performance would have been a debut outing for “Everything Goes My Way”.

Tom Kinney