Metronomy’s Joseph Mount tells TIM HUGHES how he does love to be beside the seaside as they gear up for the release of their new album The English Riviera and new single The Look on the Because Music label.

THE ENGLISH Riviera… the euphemistic tag given to that salty and careworn stretch of the West Country sums up many images: deckchairs, buckets and spades, and fish and chips in the rain, and Basil Fawlty beating his car with a branch. But music?

It was in this corner of South Devon, however, that Joseph Mount, frontman of indie-electronic band Metronomy, grew up. And it inspires him to this day – despite now being based in a predictably trendy part of the capital.

Maybe it was the lush hills and palm trees, the empty beaches, the sense of elegant decline, or the ever-changing moods of the Channel, but this holiday coastline made a lasting impression on Joseph. So much so that it is in honour of this strand of sand, rock and rolling countryside that he has named the band’s latest album – The English Riviera.

“I just fantasised that this area was a cutting edge place of music and youth culture, which it isn’t at all,” says the guitarist, singer and keyboardist.

“I Imagined that this part of England created a specific kind of music – the ‘Devon Sound’ – similar to West Coast studio music of the 1970s – and that if you went there and you had the geographical landscape in mind, you’d end up making quite reflective, introspective music.

“This was just me writing a fantasy about Devon being this cool place like Portland, Oregon, so saying ‘I’m from the English Riviera’ would get you a few column inches, instead of remind you of Fawlty Towers.”

The album, Metronomy’s third, is a slice of unabashed pop, shimmering synths, and danceable sunshine funk, with more than a flavour of 1970s California.

Reminiscent of the lazy grooves of Fleetwood Mac, Steely Dan and Stevie Wonder, this record is the result of a late epiphany – a newfound love of vintage pop. And it is set to become a summer classic.

“I would always have the same reaction to those old songs,” he recalls. “I remember hearing Fleetwood Mac’s Dreams, and I was like, ‘I hate this song. I don’t know why, but I hate it so much.

“Then a few years ago, I bought Rumours, and when I heard Dreams again I thought, ‘this is completely amazing.’ It had been there all along in my subconscious, and I suddenly thought that Fleetwood Mac were great and that there was nothing to be ashamed of.”

It is a lavish affair compared to their early electronic instrumental dabbling and the vocal electronica of their previous homemade recordings.

But, says Joseph, it couldn’t continue – not for a band who have remixed Gorillaz, Klaxons, Goldfrapp, Kate Nash, Oxford’s The Young Knives, and the rapper picked to headline Cowley Road Carnival’s Fiesta in the Park – Roots Manuva.

“If I stayed recording in my bedroom,” he explains, “it would be like when rappers keep rapping about their street lifestyle when they are obviously a lot better off.

“Now it would be a real decision for me to keep doing it on a rubbish computer, with a battered soundcard. For the first time ever, as studios are cheaper due to the recession, they are in the realms of possibility.

“It might sound quite hypocritical, but the problem with home recording is people think that anyone can make music on computers without putting the work in. You forget that there is this real tradition of recording music.”

The album, recorded in Wapping, follows a period of change for the former trio. It comes hot on the heels of the amicable departure of Gabriel Stebbing (who now plays in his own band Your Twenties), and the arrival of drummer Anna Prior and bass player Gbenga Adelekan. Keys man Oscar Cash makes up the foursome.

“When we started, the three of us wanted to get to the point where we were literally just playing live,” says Jospeh. “It has taken a while, but now we don’t use backing tracks or anything like that, it is all completely played and so is more of a spectacle.”

But while he is pleased with the new direction, and has clearly enjoyed rekindling his love for Devon, he has no intention of lingering in Torbay - or around his old home of Totnes.

“I definitely have no intention of doing the same thing again,” he says. “I still feel like we’re starting out. One day there might come a time when we’ll have released a huge output that people can draw lines between and look for similarities. But I like stuff that changes.”

* Metronomy play the Oxford O2 Academy on Wednesday with support from Ghostpoet and Keyboard Choir. Doors open at 7pm. Tickets are £10 from ticketweb.co.uk