Metronomy have announced their return with new single ‘Nice Town’, released alongside news of the band’s signing to Ninja Tune.
‘Nice Town’ is a retro-futurist collaboration with Houston artist Pan Amsterdam, following 2021 collection ‘Posse EP Volume 1’ and ‘Small World’ released in 2022.
“My collaborations always start out the same way,” explains Joe Mount, Metronomy’s founder, lead songwriter and only permanent member. “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”
“‘Nice Town’ deals with my own battles,” adds Pan Amsterdam. “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.
The single also marks the first new music on the band’s new label home Ninja Tune, and signals the beginning of a new chapter of music. “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”
‘Nice Town’ is out now on Ninja Tune, alongside a bossa-inspired Metronomy rework, and a remix by Alain Ogue. Fans can also pre-order a special limited edition 12” single vinyl – housed in the classic yellow Ninja Tune sleeve which has not been used for a release in over ten years – out on March 22nd.
—
Photo Credit: Lewis Khan
