The  English Riviera cover

The English Riviera

Released

The slow rise of soft rock in the 21st century owes a lot to Tame Impala but it needs to include Metronomy and Joseph Mount, the band’s founder and leader. First of all, dude hates room sound and makes records that are as flat and dry as the best Seventies smoothies. (Pages and Climax have nothing on this guy!) His taste for synths and guitar skronking puts him in his own category, and his songs here have a real hard-baked sense of melody and economy. There are about eleventy billion hooks hidden in this thing. Very much a lost classic, which veers between garden party sweetness and trapped under floorboards claustrophobia.

Sasha Frere-Jones

Recommended by

Suggestions
True cover

True

Violens
The Life Pursuit cover

The Life Pursuit

Belle and Sebastian
Black Hours cover

Black Hours

Hamilton Leithauser
Black Pearl cover

Black Pearl

50 Foot Wave
Beach House cover

Beach House

Beach House
Berserker cover

Berserker

Scratch Acid
Contra cover

Contra

Vampire Weekend
On The Plains cover

On The Plains

Fourth Of July