Electronic music needn’t be cold and impersonal. Take Metronomy, the indie-dance group who headlined a sold-out Koko last night.

Like their contemporaries Hot Chip, Metronomy were able to give their synthesised sound a warm, human quality in a live setting. Set-opener Holiday owed as much to the heavenly harmonies of Joseph Mount and the boys as it did the processed beats of the drum machine.

Live it was also easier to appreciate Mount’s multi‑tasking bandmates, Oscar Cash and Gabriel Stebbing. The former augmented Back On The Motorway with a jazzy saxophone solo, while the latter’s basslines provided the funky foundation for Metronomy’s high-octane set.

It was Mount’s melodies that impressed most of all. On 2006’s debut, Pip Paine (Pay The £5,000 You Owe), he seemed interested only in sounds; thanks to the fabulous follow-up, Nights Out, there are now songs.

Of these, none were better than the stomping Heartbreaker, which sent the crowd wild. Some of this excitement spilled over when, during a bizarre cover of Billy Joel’s Just The Way You Are, two members of the audience were escorted out for fighting.

Perhaps fearing further unrest, the band turned back to their own material. A foray into earlier songs was met with a slightly more dubious response so it wasn’t until the swirling electronica of My Heart Rate Rapid that the set regained its stride.

Two excitable backing singers joined the band for recent single A Thing For Me and were met by two more for a fist-pumping finale of Radio Ladio, giving the set the triumphant ending it deserved.
Are we human or are we dance group? Last night, Metronomy proved it possible to be both.