The 1975 have always intrigued me. A group whose crisp, rhythmic but otherwise unclassifiable pop and ‘gritty’ ‘bad-boy’ (please note the quotation marks) image seems worlds away from the clean-cut, hyper-censored stylings of many commercial pop acts seem to have still found themselves with a vast tween-teen fanbase.
Never a bad thing, of course: young women are the biggest consumers of modern music, often the highest investors and certainly the most passionate, active and interactive supporters, the power of the ‘fangirl’ is profound and far more immense than anyone (read: middle-aged white men in the media) gives them credit for – it’s just that the Manchester group are certainly not the first band that would come to mind when you think of that demographic.
What’s more, despite this nonchalant image they’re overtly vocal about just how much they care about being liked and how keen they are to show their emotional investment into the band.
Where their first album was very explicit and pointed in its desire to appeal to people, naming songs after things that just about everyone loves or is enchanted by – Sex, Chocolate, Girls, The City…you get the idea – I Like it When You Sleep, for You are so Beautiful Yet so Unaware of it is, as the world’s longest title suggests, slightly more cryptic. What is also is, though, is stunning. It does take a couple of listens to fall in step with the dynamic and length of the record itself, at 17 tracks, but it flows so beautifully, essentially covering that whole ‘pop’ spectrum, and above all is genuinely captivating and enjoyable the entire way through.
The INXS-esque guitars (further clout to the theory that singer Matty Healy is Michael Hutchence reincarnated) from that first album are, thankfully, back – more electronic, sure, but just as punchy and grooveable.
Always having been a group to feature rhythm over any particularly complex melodic motifs, the syncopation and analogous vocal and guitar lines render some tracks instantly memorable hits.
Some of the melodies are, if we’re being honest, fairly similar to those in the last album, but there’s always some point of growth or difference that makes it interesting.
Ultimately the whole record seems just so mature – knowing exactly when to restrain and stay demure, but when to bring back the recklessly abandoned R’n’B-inspired pop that is nothing but pure fun.
There’s an obvious technical step-up too; tracks like If I Believe You playing with time signatures, more varied instrumentation and soaring harmonies – but there’s enough familiarity to pander to the band’s existing and passionate fanbase.
The record jumps from tender, instrumental piano pieces to funked-up pop with sleekly robotic harmonies all over the place – though it never feels messy, more like a real insight into the consistent ups and downs inside someone’s brain. It just seems like there’s a new dimension to all this material: one that hopefully breaks The 1975 from their typecast as an indie boyband for teens, and towards the multi-faceted and genuinely intriguing pop phenomenon that they are.
