Nothing beats the editorial buzz of the release of a record from The 1975. The conversations that follow within days – weeks even – of the release are what we live for. We feel album reviews have lost their spark recently – and maybe we have, too. We strive to bring you heartfelt discussions about music and the albums that make us (and you) come alive. We realize we’ve been slacking lately (unmotivated, perhaps?) but we cannot deny the energy that comes with a new record from our favorite boys from Manchester.
Since our little team of three adores this band as much as you, we’ve decided to do something we’ve never done before: a group review! Dive into the album with us and don’t forget to pick up your copy today!
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It’s no secret that The 1975 are the gift that keeps on giving. It only makes sense that they would release their third record, A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships, during the rush of the holiday season, forcing us to slow down, relax, and take it all in, in all of its grandeur – and believe us, this one is worth all of your attention.
Opening with their iconic self-titled intro, the band speeds things up a bit in a robotic sense, making way for the album’s theme of technology taking over our lives while relationships take on more of a rush, pass, and go notion.
While “Give Yourself A Try” was a splash to open this new era with, it goes without saying that it just might be the anthem of a generation. “A millennial the baby boomers like,” has become quite the line to post around social media, whether ironically or candidly as Matty Healy describes the wisdom that comes with getting to a certain age and how our anxieties are only holding us back from truly living. Well played, Healy.
Always self-aware, the band delves into the nonchalance of unfaithful relationships in “TOOTIMETOOTIMETOOTIME” with a classic upbeat feel reminiscent of the I Like It When You Sleep… era.
Fans might remember “How To Draw” as a bonus track on I Like It When You Sleep…. Here on ABIIOR, we are given a remastered version that blends seamlessly with the dance-inspired “Petrichor” – a short, vocally distorted anthem on finding yourself and navigating life without the help of a screen.
“Love It If We Made It” is by far one of the best social commentaries out there, demonstrating that you don’t have to be living in America to feel the frustration and injustices going on in the world. “Truth is only hearsay / We’re just left to decay / Modernity has failed us / And I’d love it if we made it” – a telling revelation of the fear people face of our future with a hope that one day peace will be found. – Tina Roumeliotis
A shift in gear comes with “Be My Mistake” – a track that marks a contrast with the first half of the album. Stripped down to only an acoustic guitar and Matty’s vocals, this one centers the attention around the sentiment of confusion and not knowing what you want whether in a relationship or just a direction in life in general.
I could say that “Sincerity is Scary” is my favorite track on this record, and after the music video was released, it only intensified my love for it. Jazzy and as graceful as they can get, the track is an anthem on post-modernism and how everyone feels entitled to judge anyone for anything. It’s also a call to examine one’s own relationships and looking for the complexities of the good and bad.
In probably the most auto-tuned track of their career, “I Like America & America Likes Me” is a glimpse to the modern day where all people pretend to care about is the superficial things, but deep down, we’re all aware that we’re just humans who happen to have the same fears and desires.
“The Man Who Married a Robot / Love Theme” is an intermission narrated by a voice that plenty of people around the world carry in their pockets: Siri. Telling the story of a man and his relationship with the internet, this one track touches an important topic about the modern age with all its technology and lack of human interaction.
With a bit of the essence of a 90’s rock ballad, “Inside Your Mind” is a track that reflects on the desire to know what’s on your partner’s mind in the most intimate way. – Naty Cuéllar
Discussing drug addiction with a shiny synth pop façade is the shimmering “It’s Not Living (If It’s Not With You)” – one of the more upbeat songs on the record with the catchiest melody. One could call it the indie version of “I Can’t Feel My Face” but with more lyrical substance. “Collapse my veins, wearing beautiful shoes” is such an outstanding line.
“Surrounded By Heads and Bodies” is a minimal piece that could easily pass as an interlude but being four minutes long, it becomes its own eerie entity. Again, tied to Matty Healy’s drug addiction, it is dedicated to the memory of a person he met in rehab while the title is taken from Infinite Jest by Wallace.
If you’re a regular visitor of the band’s live shows, Matty’s stunt of sipping red wine on stage is a familiar theme so “Mine” and “I Couldn’t Be More In Love” are two melancholic jazz tracks that call exactly for that. They are the perfect follow up to “If I Believe You” from the previous album. Similarly to Panic! At The Disco, The 1975, too, have perfected the art of uniting modern pop music with a classic, more sophisticated direction.
From first reading the title to “I Always Wanna Die (Sometimes)” to hearing the lyrics and the music, the last track of the record is a very relatable one if you often entertain the idea of death, which will leave you in a pile of emotional turmoil on any day. It’s a full-blown existential crisis in true 1975 style, and if that wasn’t enough, the band got none other than David Campbell on the strings, who did the same magic on the beloved “Iris” by the Goo Goo Dolls – the number one go-to crying song. Now, that’s what we call legendary heartache! – Dora Udvardi
If anything, A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships provides a deeper look into the millennial mind – insecurities, doubts, fears, hopes, and dreams – all while demonstrating how powerless we all feel to what is playing out in front of us as we tend to fall prey to it, despite it all. It’s a mirror to the soul, one half saying “THIS IS WHAT YOU LOOK LIKE. STOP. Get off your phone and be human for fuck’s sake. Feel shit,” while the other half is too wrapped up in depression and anxiety to ever want to feel a damn thing again. Relatable.
Though, throughout all of the self-examining, there’s an underlying positive message of hope, healing, and self-improvement, proving that you don’t have to be cloaked in a drug-laden stupor to hide away from things that are uncomfortable. It’s okay to feel something. It’s okay to be 100% human.
Matty Healy just called us out on our shit. What a time to be alive. – Tina Roumeliotis
