I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it
Release date: February 25, 2016
It’s been two days since the release of The 1975’s second record: I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it. It’s been two days and I haven’t listened to anything else because I don’t want to—I adore this record. Frankly, I don’t need to listen to anything else right now because this album explores every dynamic facet of what makes the band who they are, and blurs genre lines.
[Note: their sound has almost nothing to do with the year 1975. That’s a different story.]
In many ways, this album is a nice follow-up to their 2013 debut album. Songs like “Change of Heart” reference lines from their first record, and some songs are like the continuation of a story depicting state of mind. After all, the characters are the same.
The four-piece group have been mates since their school days and still surround themselves with their original entourage. These guys are as genuine and “real” as can be and that’s a large part of their appeal.
Front man, musician and lyricist Matty Healy repeats that music should always be a true expression. In an interview with Hit 30, he said this record is about conviction. It is about them and the truth. Don’t expect soda pop lyrics or commercial decisions blatantly made by label heads. (Dirty Hit is an independent label.) So, the characters are the same. They’ve just changed as individuals, which is one of many topics explored on this album. Healy recently said the first album was a bit naive, and that they are a bit wiser now.
The band has taken the leap from a black and white vibe into 80’s pastels and neons. Inspiration and influence for this album stem from architecture, minimalism and brutalism. The record will give you serious INXS/Bowie/Prince meets M83 electro pop meets Sigur Rós ambient rock vibes. Healy holds the mantra that the band “create[s] in the way [they] consume.” This helps to explain why the album contains different sounds. He goes on to address a hypothetical: “Why create one type of music when nobody consumes one type of music?”
If you give the entire album a listen, expect the same tight, groove-based sound as the first record, but a deeper venture into other spaces like R&B, gospel, 80’s synth, art funk, and modern electro pop this time around. [Listen to “Loving Someone” and I can almost promise you’ll do that head nod in a groove we all do when we’re digging music.] Every song seems to have a different spin on a sound, and even features two acoustic tracks (psst…one’s a demo!) to round out the 17-track listing. There’s instrumental pieces laden with an ambient feel, but I don’t prefer them; I love the songs that have killer lyrics paired with infectious melodies. The instrumentals are pleasing to the ear, but become a bit lackluster for me. Have you ever heard of mood food? (I can only eat shrimp if I’m in the mood.) Same thing. But damn, they’re good for a long, rainy day drive.
As a fan, I’ll admit that it irks me when people just write The 1975 off as a bubblegum pop band trying to go indie/alternative (First of all, as KLSU alum Mo says, “Embrace the pop candy!”) I think they’re misunderstood. I’m not saying this to complicate them or make them sound like such an untouchable, dark, emo group, but I think the true artistic value of their material shouldn’t be questioned.
[The band’s latest music video for “The Sound” addresses their harshest critiques head on.]
But if you want to call them pop, that’s fair. They’re shaking the soda machine.
Healy has a brilliant way of tying intellectual and emotional lyrics to bright sounds and pop sensibilities. It’s that substance that lies within the “pop” that takes the infectious melodies to higher grounds. Healy sings about questioning religion, longing, love, fear, depression, drugs and “Nana” is a heartbreaking ballad about losing his grandmother. His accent-ridden helluhva voice is supported by the band’s outstanding musical ability and perfectly pleasing sounds.
I listened to this album all the way through on the first listen with my headphones. I smiled. I danced. I laughed. I grooved. I cried.
This is art. Healy repeats that he doesn’t take himself too seriously. He pokes fun at life and culture and recognizes his own human nature, and the pits that come with that. He once said, “If my tongue’s in my cheek then I hope you won’t fall over it.”
What I love is feeling like we are in on every “joke” he tells. But he takes his art very seriously, and it’s that dedication to his craft that sets him and The 1975 apart.
But hey. If they “aren’t your thing,” that’s cool. As Matty sings on the new record, “Love me. If that’s what you want to do.”
xx Madison Square
The 1975 will play Champions Square in New Orleans on May 8.
(Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Interscope)
