Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
The landscape is such that the winds that blows across the desert can create a new heartfelt, and often stirring, picture with each slow release of breath shot from the heavens. It is almost as if the ripples shift and mark out new territory as each whisper blusters and puffs away at the topsoil that has become eroded and bleached beyond recognition by the sun and reveals underneath a new plain of existence to marvel at.
Such is the timing of such movements that it can almost be seen waiting in anticipation, the enthusiasm spikes, the zeal becomes almost extreme, the click of the metronome is unyielding; it is in that place of sheer exuberance and thought that Metronomy Forever takes hold, and thankfully there is no need to starve this particular fever out.
The metronome clicks back and forth between time, between the past and the future, and the fever is one that is relentlessly in tune to its own design; something that Metronomy understand only too well as they follow up 2016s Summer 08 with depth and inspired belief, with quality and a feeling that the different styles contained have brought a new sense of belonging and wonder to the output of the band.
The album is awash with colour, a veritable cornucopia of sound which has been captured with the ability to self-analyse and openly endorse the transparent, psychotherapeutically beautiful and demanding at the same time.
Across songs such as Whitsand Bay, Salted Caramel Ice Cream, Forever Is A Long Time, Walking In The Dark, Upset My Girlfriend and the finality that comes with remembrance in Ur Mixtape, the potent image of being able to look backwards at where you have been and declaring what lays in front is charming, comfortable and forever. A set of songs that would not be out of place holding together the dreams of the art house serenade and the sweet kiss that accompanies the space between the tick and the tock as the metronome goes about its quiet, determined business.
A cascade of emotions portrayed, Metronomy Forever is an album that is eager to express itself but understands that it has to remain true to its belief, a huge ask in this day and age of instant celebrity and opinion but one it does with skill.
Ian D. Hall