The English Riviera Because ****

Metronomy's Joe Mount grew up on the English Riviera, that stretch of the Devon coastline centred around Torquay, but it's a far different sandy idyll which casts a long, glistening shadow on his band's third album. Instead of revisiting the club-friendly highs of last album Nights Out, Mount turns his attention to the sunny Californian soft-rock of the 1970s, a place where Steely Dan and Fleetwood Mac are wafting from every car radio along the beachfront.

It's an audacious move, but Mount has the songwriting smarts and the appreciation of a pop sheen (as well as the budget to move into a proper studio to properly embellish these tunes) to enable him to make the jump. Tracks such as Everything Goes My Way, Troubleand We Broke Freeare charming examples of Mount's sunset-pop, each laced with enough soft-shuffle funk to keep heads nodding. See metronomy.co.uk

Download tracks: Everything Goes My Way, Trouble, We Broke Free