Metronomy: Summer 08 review – wistful reminiscence and vintage bangers

Metronomy seem to have ever so slightly lost their way since the sublime high-water mark of 2011’s The English Riviera. Thus, Metronomy’s Joseph Mount has gone back in search of the “naivety” of the band’s early music. He’s dispensed with bigger studios and – for the time being – other band members as Summer 08 references the period just before the commercial breakthough of their second album, Nights Out. The squelchy synths and chunky walking basslines recall that era, while Mount’s lyrics gaze fondly back at his life then: all dodgy clubs, fleeting friendships and holiday romances. The 808-rattling Old Skool is playful stuff, but the best moments seem more wistfully personal. Mick Slow and Love’s Not An Obstacle are lovely, blue-eyed electro. Night Owl is evocative OMD-pop. There’s the odd dollop of filler, but Hang Me Out to Dry – Mount’s superb duet with Robyn – is equal parts hazy reminisce and vintage banger.