I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it (Dirty Hit/Polydor Records) – The 1975
The 1975 have at last dropped their new album with a name so long it would just about qualify as a Fall Out Boy song title.
I congratulate anyone who can name it word for word without checking.
The synth pop rockers’ frontman Matt Healy welcomes you into a deep deconstruction of his faults, issues and longing just to be loved by that person who really matters most.
That’s what we all dream of anyway, isn’t it?
Embracing their adoration for 80s pop, the Manchester boys show off a musical intelligence hinted at in their first album ‘The 1975’, but honed in this new release with uncompromising beauty.
Highlight tracks ‘Ugh!’ and the six-minute masterstroke ‘If I Believe You’ really make you feel a genuine connection to Matt Healy.
This is a connection so much more personal than simply that of a teenage girl lustfully looking on as he ruffles his hair, skipping around the stage in the most outlandish of stage clothes.
His vulnerability is so present throughout the album.
Especially in tracks ‘Somebody Else’, ‘Nana’ and the definite future single ‘Paris’.
This is an album that deserves so much more than being the soundtrack to Spencer Matthews from Made in Chelsea breaking up with yet another beautiful love interest he has drunkenly cheated on.
The substance and aim of The 1975 in this new album has been clear since the release of their debut music video ‘Love Me’.
Be open, honest and don’t be scared of your emotions.
Some may call it brave… Or stupid to release an album with a title long as the four members’ arms put together and a 17-song track list.
But if they hadn’t done that, how do you expect anybody to stand out from the crowd in the current Pop climate?
Especially an album of such triumphant production and imagination.