Metronomy are a British electronic music group formed in 1999. Currently, the band consists of Joseph Mount (vocals, keyboards and guitar), Oscar Cash (keyboards, backing vocals, guitar and saxophone), Anna Prior (drums and vocals), Olugbenga Adelekan (bass guitar and vocals) and Michael Lovett (keyboards and guitars). The name Metronomy was originally chosen by Mount and was said to be influenced by the band names of Autechre and Funkstorung.
In the autumn of 2005, Metronomy released a debut album, Pip Paine (Pay the £5000 You Owe) preceded by the first single ‘You Could Easily Have Me’. After it had received limited attention, Mount began to build up a reputation for live shows. Initially, Metronomy was essentially a laptop/DJ act, although Mount soon asked his cousin Oscar Cash and an old schoolfriend Gabriel Stebbing to join him. Mount explained that “I was doing some shows on my own, which was pretty crap, so I thought it would be better to get a band thing going on”.
The trio spent the next three years gaining live-experience while Mount recreated mixes for many other artists; contractual issues with the record company halted any new release. On remixing, Mount has said “basically, I only like remixers that really care about what they’re doing. I can honestly say that I have got really involved in all of my remixes. If I’ve not got anywhere with one I will tell whoever it is that I’m giving up. That doesn’t happen that often.” Metronomy has “a good strike rate” in terms of remix work released.
Although the band was now a three-piece live, in the studio Mount was “still writing and recording it all on my own” and “influenced by people who’ve written, recorded and produced things all on their own, like Prince”. In 2008, the band released the singles “My Heart Rate Rapid”, “Holiday”, “Heartbreaker” (which feat. a Remix by Kris Menace), “A Thing For Me” and “Radio Ladio” and the full album Nights Out in September of that year. Kris Menace’s Remix of “Heartbreaker” became Hype Chart No.1 in 2008. In May 2009, it was announced through the band’s Myspace page that Stebbing would be leaving the band.
In 2011, the band released three singles ‘The Look’, ‘Everything Goes My Way’ and ‘The Bay’ from their 3rd album The English Riviera which came out in April. The album was the first to feature bassist Olugbenga Adelekan and drummer Anna Prior as band members, rounding out the band as a quartet. In January 2014, Metronomy’s upcoming single Love Letters was named Zane LOwe’s “Hottest Record in the World”. Their fourth studio album, Love Letters, was released on 10 March 2014, with the band achieving their joint highest ever position on the UK Album Charts, at number 7. Three further albums ‘Summer 08’ (2016), ‘Metronomy Forever’ (2019) and ‘Small World’ (2022) have been forthcoming.
