Metronomy have signed to a new label – Ninja Tune – and have today (March 12) released an experimental new single called ‘Nice Town’. Check it out below.
READ MORE: Indie survivors Metronomy: “I like the idea that we stealthily succeeded in our own way”
The new single is described as “a collaboration with New York by way of Houston artist Pan Amsterdam” and is the first new music from the band since the release their collaborative EP, ‘Posse EP Volume 1’.
Joe Mount, Metronomy’s founder, lead songwriter and only permanent member said of the new track: “My collaborations always start out the same way. I send out a folder of ideas, beats mainly, and see what comes back. Some artists will play around with a number of the tracks, and some will focus just on one thing that works for them.
“With Pan Amsterdam, it was the latter, one of those tracks that when he sent it back it was like ‘Oh wow’, it just all fell into place. It’s sort of an old school rap track, but in the case of Pan he doesn’t just rap, he’s also an incredible jazz trumpet player, who also works with Iggy Pop.”
Mount added: “To me, it’s exciting to be involved with artists at this point in their career. The whole spirit is one of discovering artists, and to make something that you find inspiring”.
Check out the new song here:
Collaborator Pan Amsterdam continued: “‘Nice Town’ deals with my own battles. With the internal versus the external or, intangible versus the tangible. I’m always trying to remember that tangibles may applaud my pursuit in attempting to fulfill my purpose but that my purpose is not tangible. Nor is it for my ego to be gratified. A ‘Town’ can be a ‘Nice’ thing to blame during these reckonings with the inner dimensions of one’s self. And it’s ‘Nice’ to have a new ‘Town’ interrupting this reckoning, and escape to.“
Speaking about signing to Ninja Tune, Mount added: “It feels like a full circle moment,” says Mount of the signing. “As a teenager I was obsessed with the romance of labels like Ninja Tune, Warp and Wall of Sound. The artists they represented really made me who I am as a musician today. With Ninja Tune, they are a label who have gone from strength to strength at a time when it’s pretty hard to do that, and it’s something I think can also be said of Metronomy.”
Metronomy’s last EP came stacked with Radar favourites, including Biig Piig, Spill Tab, Pinty, Folly Group, Brian Nasty, and rising heroes like Sorry.
Around the time of the release of ‘Posse’, Joe told NME he wanted to work on the project because, “Some of the formative albums I listened to growing up were guest-studded, so it’s always been something I’ve been interested in.”