The 1975 have returned with their third studio album ‘A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships’, and it is their most diverse, experimental and brilliant album to date.
The world is an incredibly scary time currently, due to intensity in the political sphere and the fear of society becoming engulfed by the online world, and the Manchester quartet have embodied all of these fears into one masterpiece of a record.
The album is a roller coaster, tackling what life is like for us living in the 21st century. Politics is a heavy theme on the album, from ‘Love It If We Made It’, which shares Matty fears of how what the world has become, to ‘I Like America & America Likes Me’ which tackles the need for gun control laws in the United States. Simultaneously, the album is brutally honest to the life of front-man Healy, touching on his drug use on ‘Its Not Living (If It’s Not with You)’ and the heart wrenching ‘Be My Mistake’ where Matty told Pitchfork ‘“Be My Mistake” is just about guilt. It’s about when you are a young person and you struggle sometimes to figure out what you really want.”
As previously mentioned, it is a bold and experimental record, crossing many influences and genres while remaining an alternative pop band album. From the jazz infused ‘Mine’ to the pop perfection ‘TOOTIMETOOTIMETOOTIME’ the band covers almost every area of music. Surprises come in the form of ‘I Like America and America Likes Me’, a song driven by a trap beat and heavy auto tune use which would be out of place on a Travis Scott album (but arguably one of the standout songs from this record and works incredibly well for the band.) The emotional stadium anthem ‘I Always Wanna Die (Sometimes)’ ends the album on a slow rock belter that is the most personal track on the album, leaving you in tears. The jukebox record produced entirely by Healy and fellow band mate George Daniel caters to almost every music genre leaving something for everyone to enjoy and paired with the clever lyricism of the band creates a perfectly executed album.
Modernity may have failed us but The 1975 certainly haven’t. ‘A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships’ is the most diverse and adventurous record this year and catapults the band to be noted as one of the most important artists of this generation. Using their status to create politically influenced songs and be brutally honest of their experiences in terms of mental health creates a talking point on these subjects with their fans and casual listeners that is certainly needed.
‘A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships’ is available worldwide now.