What happened to Metronomy? That’s the first reaction upon spinning through The English Riviera, the band’s third and latest full length album. The last time the Joseph Mount fronted group released a full record was in 2008 with Nights Out, an energetic little collection of tunes which blended the effusive synthesizer quirks from Mount’s then in-demand remix work with a knack for no-frills lo-fi pop songs. Although they built on that reputation with some back to back party tours of Australia recently, The English Riviera finds Metronomy in a starkly different mood.

Beginning with the intro title track that wafts into the album’s first full cut, We Broke Free, Metronomy immediately shake any expectations that The English Riviera will scale the same giddy electronic-infused pop heights that Nights Out did, with infrequent bass throbs and muted guitar strums setting a decidedly languid pace. Mount eventually brings in his beloved electronics, offering some ghostly keys as the layers of the tune begin to amass with more and more guitar waves falling onto one another. While the flurry of noise shows the band have plenty of bite left in them, things are quickly dialed back down to a softer level with an extended instrumental outro led by drummer Anna Prior’s nodding kit work.

The same tone continues as Metronomy lead into The English Riviera’s two preceding singles She Wants which sways slowly with shuffling cymbals and some brooding processed bass gurgles not to mention enough staccato guitar chords and gothic lyrics to make Robert Smith jealous and The Look which, despite its steady mid-tempo pace, gets in your ear with (literally) cooing vocals and a late flurry of keyboard theatrics.

In between the bleary-eyed waltz of Trouble and the spooky synths of Loving Arm Metronomy show some glimmers of its former predilections for more energetic arrangements such as the upbeat The Bay and Corinne in particular which benefits from a thick electronic pulse.

Though The English Riviera doesn’t contain, nor even stretch to attain the gleeful energy of Nights Out that doesn’t reflect on the quality of the album that Metronomy have created. In fact, with its more focussed and considered approach, The English Riviera is by far Metronomy’s most engrossing work yet, with the band balancing their gift for whistle-ready pop hooks with an evolved ear for layered production and a structural maturity that makes each tune a little richer and longer lasting. Indeed, where the band’s previous material relished in its charmingly unpolished bedroom feel, the sounds of The English Riviera are fleshed out and given depth with the inclusion of acoustic guitars, more live drumming and inventive programming. Whereas they might’ve been masters of the immediate before, Metronomy have made something that really reveals itself over time. That time is definitely worth it.

The English Riviera is out now through Warner Music Australia