Review of Not Made For Love Album by Metronomy
Read our EP review of Not Made For Love from Metronomy
Look, I like Hot Chip as much as he next guy. I thought that "We're Looking For a Lot of Love" proved once and for all that you didn't need a bloody forty piece orchestra to create a ballad of stunning, imprecise beauty. I didn't mind when the Guardian decided that "Over and Over" was some kind of D.I.Y. Blue Monday. And I don't even mind that at least one of them looks like Justin Lee Collins.
I don't however get why Brighton based duo Metronomy - already in-demand remixers and still riding a wave of critical kudos after the release of their second album Nights Out last year - have chosen to release something that sounds like a 'Chipper d-side'.
'Not Made For Love' ripples gently enough in a lo-fi Casio plinking way, but the politeness of it's slightly out of key harmonies and bass-less mix make Joe Mount's refrain of "You made a big mistake" seem like a note to self. Not content with disappearing up someone else's arse, 'Do The Right Thing' then commits the cardinal sin of using a vocoder about eight years after it became unacceptable (Again).
This being an EP however there is a shot at redemption, one that duly arrives courtesy of the glorious eighties slap bass and uber-lite twinkling house keys of 'Do The Right Thing', woozily off-kilter dance muzik which allows a glimpse of why the twosome get the call to deconstruct from the likes of Klaxxons, Franz Ferdinand and Gorillaz.
There's a plethora of remixes too, of which only the alien, drum and bass-ish Ebola versioning of 'Do The Right Thing' should really take up any of your time. Bit of a waste really.
Andy Peterson
