1975 - A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships - Album review

The band’s extensive third album consists of profound honesty and a flick of genres throughout.

A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships (2018)

This album is only one of the two albums The 1975 produced, the first ‘A brief inquiry into online relationships’ and the second ‘Notes on a conditional form’ is set to be released next year.

Lead singer Matty Healy has always denied the status of being a ‘rock band’ and this album proves it. Their third studio album tells a story of millennial experiences and relationships in this day and age as well as touching on real life problems such as modern politics.

The overall tone of the album disguises the rock star edge of Matt Healy and portrays him in a naked light. The band have always had a hypermodern ora about them and their hefty use of auto tune and different use of genres puts that into perspective. The song ‘TOOTIMETOOTIMETOOTIME’ has elements of jazz with a hint of pop. On the other hand, ‘Give Yourself a Try’ has more of an indie feel to it.

Mixing genres and messages in an album could have gone disastrously! However, somehow the concoction may have worked. The intermission of ‘The Man Who Married a Robot’ tells a strangely profound story about our interaction with the internet and technology. Starring a computer generated voice, it is a complex and philosophical insight into how we are as a generation.

The honesty throughout ‘Love It If We Made It’ is a representation of the refugee crisis, Kanye West’s unity with Trump, Lil Peer and the black lives matter campaign. The first line “We’re fucking in a car, shooting heroin, saying controversial things just for the hell of it” is a direct reference to Matt Healy’s recent addiction.

Overall, A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships is a deep and thoughtful insight of how “Modernity has failed us” through mainstream pop culture. Although it isn’t as cheery and upbeat as 2016’s 'I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it', it gives us a telling and honest story with a combination of jazz, pop and indie.

Listen to A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships here on Spotify.