The 1975 highlights vintage pop vibes
The 1975’s sophomore album, I Like It When You Sleep, For You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware of It, emobdies unapologetically the band’s persona and their breach of today’s pop for authentic artistry. The 1975’s first full-length album, self-titled The 1975, peaked at No. 1 on UK album charts, and after touring internationally and building a dedicated fan base, this album is poised for greater attention. Amoeba Hollywood held a listening party prior to the release, where eager fans lined up to receive free merchandise such as free t-shirts and cassettes. The Manchester-based quartet have been linked since their teenage years, and ILIWYS surfaces new stylings in a post-fame chapter in their career.
A group that appears a typical indie rock band has its greatest influences derive from a few sources: ’80s rock, à la David Bowie, whose inspiration is sprinkled throughout, synth-pop and slower ballads derived from Peter Gabriel and Hall & Oates and modern funk, with inklings of Michael Jackson. Frontman Matthew Healy, whose spirited persona and performances electrify the band and its audiences offers some of his greatest songwriting contributions over 17 tracks. Healy is known for unorthodox, brutally honest and self-deprecating lyrics, but what seems off-color to some is intensely refreshing and bursting with talent, especially for a band in the pop music spotlight.
The album’s opening song, an instrumental, is followed by “Love Me,” a tongue-in-cheek critique of the superficial, social media-obsessed culture. Punk guitars play on a riff throughout, and one can hear a modern version of David Bowie’s “Fame.”
The next song, titled “UGH!” features a groove that is almost as addictive Healy’s recount of his own tales of addiction. Healy’s robust vocals on the chorus are among the best on the album, but are followed up by a mellower tune in “A Change of Heart.” While minimalist instrumentally, the verses reference lyrics in some of their earlier records and impeccably paint a picture of falling out of love or feeling deceived. Healy, an intellectual humanist with a penchant for beat poetry, references Jack Kerouac, whose works may have inspired his lyrics to be those of a sort of 21st-century beatnik songwriter. “She’s American” almost humorously tells the tale of his differences with an American girl who “says I’ve got to fix my teeth.” “She’s American” is fundamentally pop-rock, but also as the fifth and final song on the A-Side of the vinyl record, it marks that the band has cleverly woven four different genres in influences into a seamlessly flowing star to the album.
“If I Believe You” is a stripped-down, analog undertoned, rhythm and blues piece that flows weightlessly. Healy’s filtered vocals hit deep as he confesses pain and insecurity, and despite being atheist, asks if he believed in God, if his troubles would go away. It’s one of the band’s best complete pieces in all aspects of the record. The next pair of tracks, “Please Be Naked” and “Lostmyhead” are an aesthetic instrumental whirlwind, which tastefully bring the album into a new phase. “The Ballad of Me and My Brain” enters as Healy’s vocals powerfully banter without rhyme how he’s lost himself in the band’s new state and image and the effect stardom has had on his mental being.
“Somebody Else” is Healy’s profession of platonic but pained feelings in finding out a lover has left him. Although simpler in composition, the electronic-infused rhythm, Healy’s murmuring, howling vocals and catchy-but-not-corny factor makes this a hit and has received radio play. “Loving Someone” takes the listener uptempo before the title track, which is mostly six minutes of instrumental music that varies extensively but speaks to the essence of the band’s tendency for intricate transitions which supplement the flow of the album. “The Sound” is the top track on the album. It’s an exuberant electric piano and bass beat that brings pop back into it’s heyday with edgy lyrics, catch chorus and excellent guitar solo from Adam Hann that listener’s can’t avoid dancing to.
“This Must Be My Dream” is a great soundscape that’s experimental followed by a saxophone solo. “Paris” is not only a melancholy picture of the people Healy’s come across on tour, but also an introspective look at himself. “Nana” is heart wrenching for anyone who has lost a loved one, as an ambient instrumental and acoustic guitar accompanies Healy’s restrained grief and message to his late grandmother. “She Lays Down” is an all acoustic, demo-sounding take that satisfyingly caps off an excellent album.
Healy isn’t afraid to point fingers at society and hit intense notes, nor reflect and be somberly self conscious and relate to the listener’s life. Instrumentally, the album is sonically more 80s and electronic, but with so many influences, it’s clear the band has incorporated quality roots into their sound. The 1975 strike high marks across the board with ILIWYS, and it should go down as a pivotal record for the band and for pop music.