Metronomy review, Small World: Too safe to grab your attention

Sign up to Roisin O’Connor’s free weekly newsletter Now Hear This for the inside track on all things music Get our Now Hear This email for free Get our Now Hear This email for free SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. While it’s true that the band’s seventh album embraces perkier, janglier sounds, Small World’s opening lines are: “I don’t know/ Life and death/ Wait until no one’s left.” It takes listeners on a journey where the final destination is: “I have seen enough/ Pretentious/ Can’t look away.” As referenced by the Nineties photograph on the album cover, these nine songs dial up the final decade of the last century. The problem with Small World is that its Nineties indie vibe – quirky synths and acoustic strums – is more earnestly pub-circuit “Wake Up Boo!” than wildly jubilant “Shiny Happy People”. It’s the likeably undistinguished sound of the comfortable lifestyle Mount describes on “Love Factory”: “Let’s go to the theatre/ Let’s meet up with friends.” That’s not to say Small World lacks pleasures. Mount is a skilful melody maker – I liked the goofy Casio keyboard plunks of “It’s Good To Be Back”, and the moody pub-grunge bass line of “Loneliness on the Run”.