Interview Looking back on 10 years of Metronomy’s ‘The English Riviera’: “I wanted to prove I could do something really accessible and pop”

‘The English Riviera’ has become your most successful album to date - were you aware that it might have that crossover potential or longevity at the time?
At that time we were among a bunch of bands, and I think I felt that people had misunderstood what I was about and what Metronomy was and potentially could be. I’d released [second album] ‘Nights Out’ and I remember feeling quite upset about some of the reviews; I took their reaction to it to be that they weren’t taking it that seriously, that anyone could do it and it was a bit throwaway. So I wanted to make an album which showed people that it wasn’t throwaway and I knew what I was doing, and that if I wanted to I could do something really accessible and pop. I wanted it to be popular and to reach people who previously hadn’t been reached by Metronomy, but my expectations were here [gestures low to the ground] and what happened was way beyond that, and I think that’s because in the end it wasn’t a cynical record, there was real meat to what it was about and the idea behind it. It did much more than I thought it would and it still does.

So there was a frustration that ‘Nights Out’ was underrated at the time?
It’s worth saying that, when I was writing [The English Riviera], I was 25/ 26 and when I was that age I had a very different frame of mind to now. I was trying to assure my career and make sure that I could do it forever, so there’s a competitive nature you have when you’re younger that isn’t cynical or nasty: it’s the same stuff that makes people make brilliant music when they’re younger because there’s this weird, amazing combination of competitiveness and naivety. You’re young, but you think you’re very old and smart and clever. A lot of people’s most celebrated albums are made at that time.

Why head thematically back to your hometown for the record?
I think that’s where it became a much more genuine and - I don’t want to say magical - but an unpredictable thing. I was aware that I was writing some stuff which was a bit more polished and with a sheen, and I wanted to give it a reason to be like that. At that age I still felt really connected to where I grew up. I was still thinking about the place a lot, and I was listening to a lot of Steely Dan, and Hall and Oates, and The Eagles. I’d visited California for the first time and found it really incredible, and I just realised how there was this strange connection and similarity between the West Coast and [where I’m from]. So then I thought, well this is fun and there’s some mileage in this feeling.

What’s the feeling that you wanted to put across?
I was listening to this music that was made in a sun-soaked place - this very expensive, indulgent music - and then realising that there was a complete similarity in attitude. These Laurel Canyon hippies and Totnes; there was much more common ground than I realised. So I wanted to try and make something quite indulgent, that sounded like this idea I had of American music, but instead of using some massive Sound City studio Los Angeles, we were in a converted garage in Canada Water. Using your imagination is the key to making it sound like it does.

How do the ‘new’ tracks on the reissue fit into the album story?
There are a few songs which are as they were left - there’s one called ‘Friends’ which, for a long time, I was convinced was gonna be on the record but I was never happy with how it ended up - although now I think it could have done. I guess that’s the part of doing a reissue that’s quite entertaining: you get to go through all the old stuff and remember the thought processes you went through to disregard stuff and how, with the benefit of hindsight, you think, ‘Oh I should have put that on!’.

‘The English Riviera’ turned out to be your biggest album so far, what do you think connected so well?
I really think it’s to do with things lining up. Every thing and person played a part. On the one hand, it’s a record where I wanted to stamp some sort of authority on the situation, but the record label also wanted to prove themselves in England, and a lot of things were happening in journalism; it felt like all these things were connected and everyone was trying to make some sort of mark at a similar time. Also it was a summery record and the weather that year was really nice! Anyone will tell you that there are thousands of amazing albums out there that haven’t had those things line up, so it’s serendipity but also it was a good album.

Agreed!

‘The English Riviera 10th Anniversary Edition’ is out now via Because Music.

Tags: Metronomy, Track by Track, Features, Interviews