The 1975's album 'Notes On A Conditional Form' promises a musical rollercoaster from a band at the top of its game
The 1975 are one of the most uber-talented and hardest-working pop-rock bands to emerge out of Britain since the turn of the new millennium, or as frontman Matt Healy puts it: "The band of the 2000s was Arctic Monkeys and I’d say the band of this decade has been my band." Formed in 2002, the Manchester-based band, comprising vocalist and rhythm guitarist Healy, lead guitarist Adam Hann, bassist Ross MacDonald, and drummer George Daniel have released three studio albums until now. Their track record speaks for itself - 'The 1975' (2013), 'I Like It When You Sleep, For You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware of It' (2016) and 'A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships' (2018) have all claimed the number 1 spot in the UK so far upon their release.
Known for their brand of synth-poppy, digitized, emotionally uplifting-yet-gloomy music, the band is no stranger to the grandiose excesses of their art form, and are quite comfortable with blurring genres in their steadily maturing musical palette. Besides just using their main instruments, they've dabbled with effects like spiky glitches, robotic voices (their last album had a song narrated by Siri), blaring horns, techno beats, modern autotune, string sections... in fact, over the years, they've blended elements of trap, jazz, pop, rock, and electronica into their music to varying degrees of aural success.
But one thing is for sure - this band is as epic and ambitious as they are creative and neurotic. No song idea is too grandiose or experimental or achingly vulnerable for The 1975, and this no-limits approach to the band's songwriting evolution dictates that they'll keep soaring past the horizon and into the nether regions of far-flung space if their listeners would dare to follow them there.
So obviously, expectations are high when it comes to their hotly-anticipated fourth studio offering, 'Notes On A Conditional Form' which is slated for release on April 24 via Dirty Hit/Polydor Records. So far, we've had a chance to listen to six (soon-to-be seven) songs off the new album, which we've linked for you here:
The mellow, eco-conscious 'The 1975' (featuring a Greta Thunberg speech, no less):
The noisy, Marilyn Manson-esque 'People':
The gentle, super-chill 'Frail State Of Mind':
The shiny, euphoric 'Me & You Together Song':
The soon-to-premiere 'The Birthday Party':
The album also includes the earnest 'Jesus Christ 2005 God Bless America', plus the sentimental 'Guys' and the 80's inspired 'If You’re Too Shy (Let Me Know)'.
So if there's one takeaway we're getting from these new tracks, it's that the band have really matured as musical artistes, and have blossomed into socially-aware songwriters who wear their hearts and politics on their sleeves. The wide spectrum of sonic variety on offer here means that this new album is going to be pretty wide-ranging and awesome!
We can't wait to hear it on April 24!
