On November 30th, The 1975 released their latest album, “A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships.” This work marks the band’s third album, and, as the title suggests, this collection of music is focused on themes of relationships, interactions with the Internet and the media, and our perceptions of modern reality.
If you are unfamiliar with The 1975, they are a four-piece group from Britain that combine pop rock and R&B rhythms with some more artistic and indie elements. This group is currently rising in popularity as they have over 8 million monthly listeners on Spotify, and they have been nominated and have won a few independent music awards overseas. Most notably, The 1975 won the UK’s New Musical Express (NME) award for Best Live Band in 2016. The band’s second album, “I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it,” hit #1 in charts in both the U.K. and the U.S.
In an interview covered by BBC Radio, Matty Healy, the lead singer, revealed that “A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships” comprises one half of the band’s current “Music for Cars” era. The 1975 will release another album, entitled “Notes on a Conditional Form,” in May 2019.
If you want to see The 1975 perform, you’re in luck! They are departing on a worldwide tour to promote the album in March of 2019. For all our friends in Utah, The 1975 will be coming to Orem, Utah to perform on April 29 at the UCCU Center. You can grab your tickets here.
Each of The 1975’s albums begin with the same song, “The 1975,” but the track is revamped each time in order to demonstrate their musical fluidity and distinct sounds. From the latest album, this opening track signals to the listener that this collection will have more R&B and techno elements while tapping into some deeper emotions.
The 1975 has a clear and distinct sound, but one thing they do extraordinarily well is giving their listeners a wide range of songs and sounds throughout their albums. “A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships” includes pop bops, R&B ballads, and songs that combine these elements and add political commentaries.
By far, I would say the most overtly political song is “Love it if we Made It.” When I first listened to this track, I was primarily paying attention to the rhythm and the sound as a whole, and I found this song to be full of pop rhythms and it inspired more positive emotions. Yet, when I paid attention to the lyrics, I found the song to take on a more significant meaning. The song begins with “shooting heroin,” and it continues to discuss politics, the relationship between Trump and Kanye, Brett Kavanuagh, immigration, and more current issues. The fact that this song is able to function on two levels reveals that The 1975 are such masters of their craft.
If you’re looking for another political song, listen to “The Man who Married a Robot / Love Theme.” This song begins with an automated voice that offers a commentary on an individual’s life, and widespread obsession with the Internet. The second half of the song is almost completely instrumental, and incorporates some elements that are reminiscent of jazz. In turn, this duality in the song prompts the listener to reflect upon their own use of social media and our modern reliance on the Internet.
Moving away from their political songs, this album also offers several ballads. “Be my Mistake,” “Surrounded by Heads and Bodies,” “I Couldn’t Be More in Love,” and “I Always Wanna Die (Sometimes)” all offer more emotional and personable insights. I would say that “I Always Wanna Die (Sometimes)” has the most inspiration from the rock genre out of these four tracks, but they are all inquisitive and passionate.
If you didn’t think that was enough variety, “A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships” also features wonderful pop and techno tracks to offset these political songs and ballads. For this style, listen to “I like America and America Likes Me” and “How to Draw / Petrichor.” Although these are not the only songs on the album to feature this style of song (check out my list of favorite songs from the album for more combinations of pop and techno influences), these two songs encapsulate The 1975’s unique style of songwriting and production.
Some of my favorite lyrics from “A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships” are:
- “Truth is only hearsay/ We’re just left to decay/ Modernity has failed us” – Love it if we Made It
- “When people said that it was raining all the time/ I see sunshine ’cause I know that you are mine” – Mine
- “The back of your head is at the front of my mind/ Soon I’ll crack it open just to see what’s inside your mind” – Inside Your Mind
My favorite songs from this album are:
- Give Yourself a Try
- Love it if we Made It
- Sincerity is Scary
- TOOTIMETOOTIMETOOTIME
- It’s Not Living if It’s Not With You
Overall, this album is profound, infectious, novel, and eccentric.
If you’re looking to check out artists and bands similar to The 1975, I recommend you listen to COIN, Hippo Campus, LANY, Arctic Monkeys, Bleachers, The Wombats, and The Kooks.
If I were to rate this album, I would give it 5/5 stars.