Tracks - Metronomy - My Morning Jacket - Song reviews

“The Look”
Metronomy

The sheet music for “The Look” might read “louche ’80s tune,” but the song plays as something else. Metronomy pulls a simple trick, swapping synthesizers for a Wurlitzer. Joseph Mount taps out the sort of little staccato toots you might hear in a church or ballpark. His organ gives the driving ditty a lonely and, well, organic feel. It’s ostensibly dance music, but, sung in the past tense, more a memory of a dance than an impetus to get down. From Devon, England, the band is making beach pop for a strand with gray skies and pebbles instead of sand. Sure enough, the record is fittingly, wittily called The English Riviera. A tropical guiro scratches along, balanced by melancholic falsettos. To climax, the electric piano wails into the wind like Herbie Hancock at Mr. Roboto’s funeral. Deep down, it’s aching to be a sax solo. C’mon, guys, you’ve put on the white blazers; the sleeves are rolled up. Go all in with the horn.