Metro
Metro

Music out of time, that belongs to no genre or era, in a world that is changing rapidly.

The eponymous debut of Metro is as bright as it is a forgotten meteoroid of English art-rock. A refined exploration of the pop song, cultured and decadent, which in a certain sense anticipates the work of David Sylvian with his Japan. Perhaps more in aesthetics and intentions than strictly in musical formula.

The band takes shape from the meeting of Duncan Browne, a skillful multi-instrumentalist and authentic dandy of the British underground, with singer and keyboardist Peter Godwin. The two are depicted on the album cover as elegant gangsters from a B-movie noir. And if one really wants to find a common thread between the artwork and the music proposed by these gentlemen, there is no doubt that it is elegance.

Metro puts forth a series of compositions with imaginative sound geometries, continuously changing tracks that combine the verve of a certain danceable pop with the harmonic constructions typical of the most romantic progressive, at times spiced with folk aromas. Technical skill and sophisticated arrangements, soft and morbid sounds, all at the service of a noteworthy creativity.

"Criminal World", with its hiccuping bass and terribly sensual demeanor, is the only known track from the album. Although unfortunately, it owes its fortune not so much to the fleeting success achieved at that time, but to the subsequent (and alas, dreadful) cover performed by the Thin White Duke on “Let’s Dance.” But continuing through the grooves of this work highlights, if there were still any doubt, how sometimes fate is unjust towards art.

The impalpable atmospheres of the delicate “Flame” and its creeping melancholy, bathed in showers of reverberation, are frescoes of rare beauty. As indeed are the intriguing folk architectures of “Black Lace Shoulder”, a track supported by lively percussion over which an askew gypsy violin soars confirming the group's compositional unpredictability. And one cannot forget the sweet ballad “One Way Night”, with its soft piano brushstrokes, strings opening gaps of melancholy, and a melody that traverses the folds of the soul.

The rest of the album is composed of more rhythmic and lively tracks, which, however, do not pale in comparison to these pearls and in a certain sense balance their strongly nostalgic aura. It is a strange world that Metro ventures into, the train of success does not stop at their station and the band cannot go beyond the timid appreciation of critics. The commercial failure will cause the early departure of Duncan Browne, the true creative mind of the group, and the magic immediately extinguishes. This album, however, retains the same charm as before, the strength of a sinful pleasure that time cannot erode, and that the heart cannot forget.