Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships

by The 1975

Overview

Listening to the 1975's ambitious third full-length album, 2018's A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships, it's clear that the Manchester outfit is not the same band that delivered their effusive 2013 debut. They sound somewhat more akin to the band that issued 2016's I Like It When You Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware of It. If that album found lead singer Matt Healy pushing the group's emo and post-punk influences ever pop-ward, embracing R&B and adult contemporary stylings, then A Brief Inquiry takes those changes even further. Along with the catchy pop of "TOOTIMETOOTIMETOOTIME," and "Give Yourself a Try," the 1975 achieve a grounded sophistication, offering up the sweet '90s R&B groove of "Sincerity Is Scary" and the dewy, jazz trumpet-accented "Mine." That both of these tracks wouldn't sound out of place on a D'Angelo album is a kind of triumph. "It's Not a Living (If It's Not with You)" comes the closest the sparkling sound of their early hits and goes even further in recreating the sugary Stock, Aitken & Waterman sound of 1989. Similarly, the gut-wrencher "I Couldn't Be More in Love" is straight-up Phil Collins pastiche. Much like their ubiquitous self-titled theme song that subtly evolves with each album, the 1975 are a band of the moment, synthetic pop mavericks unburdened by any parochial genre constraints and able to drape themselves in an array of digital musical skins. Healy, who battled his own demons during the album's gestation, including entering rehab for heroin addiction, seems to be a man both at odds and in tune with his age. The album vibrates with tweetable immediacy, packing in a reference to the death of rapper Lil Peep next to heartfelt condemnations of immigrant bashing and timely references to the Me Too movement -- and that's all just in "Love It If We Made It," a buoyantly earnest anthem that works as their own Internet-era version of Van Hagar's "Right Now," Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire," and Phil Collins' "Another Day in Paradise." Healy would love it if society survived to the next millennium, but as he sings on the song's chorus, "modernity has failed us." Much like the Internet itself, A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships works best in small doses, when you can catch any one song on its own terms. And despite the often bleak themes at play on the album, there's also a refreshing hopefulness on many of the tracks that speaks to Healy's own recovery and willingness to say yes to even the most frothy pop trend. ~ Matt Collar

Product Details

Release Date:	11/30/2018
Label:	Dirty Hit
UPC:	0602577011474

Tracks

1. The 1975
2. Give Yourself a Try
3. TOOTIMETOOTIMETOOTIME
4. How to Draw/Petrichor
5. Love It If We Made It
6. Be My Mistake
7. Sincerity Is Scary
8. I Like America & America Likes Me
9. The Man Who Married a Robot/Love Theme
10. Inside Your Mind
11. It's Not Living (If It's Not With You)
12. Surrounded by Heads and Bodies
13. Mine
14. I Couldn't Be More in Love
15. I Always Wanna Die (Sometimes)

Album Credits

Performance Credits

The 1975   Primary Artist
George Daniel   Synthesizer,Vocals (Background),Drums,Piano,Keyboards,Percussion
Ross MacDonald   Bass,Double Bass
Matt Ward   Violin
Amber Bain   Keyboards,Guitar (Electric),Vocals (Background)
Guendoline Rome Viray Gomez   Drums,Keyboards,Synthesizer,Vocals (Background)
Kate Robinson   Violin
Andrew Crowley   Trumpet
Gareth Hulse   Oboe
David Stewart   Trombone (Bass)
Jon Carnac   Clarinet
Katherine Gowers   Violin
Sara Parkins   Violin
Martin Humbey   Viola
Mario de Leon   Violin
Luke Maurer   Viola
John Ryan   French Horn
Michele Richards   Violin
Gavin McNaughton   Bassoon
Perry Montague-Mason   Violin
Stacey Watton   Double Bass
Simon Baggs   Violin
Emil Chakalov   Violin
Chris Allan   Cello
Tom Pigott-Smith   Violin
Andy Wool   Trombone
Clare Jeffries   Piccolo
Rebbie Widdup   Violin
Peter Lale   Viola
Paul Edmund-Davies   Flute
Rita Manning   Violin
Skaila Kanga   Harp
Helen Kamminga   Viola
Everton Nelson   Violin
Patrick Kiernan   Violin
Natalia Bonner   Violin
James Fountain   Trumpet
Rachel Bolt   Viola
London Community Gospel Choir   Choir/Chorus
Roy Hargrove   Trumpet
Andrew Parker   Viola
Thomas Lea   Viola
Rudy Stein   Cello
Chris Worsey   Cello
Sonia Slany   Violin
Chris Laurence   Double Bass
Frank Ricotti   Percussion
Sophie Harris   Cello
Ian Burdge   Cello
Richard Berry   French Horn
David Campbell   Piano,Conductor
Nina Evtuhov   Violin
Chris Baron   Percussion
Ed Tarrant   Trombone
Oliver Langford   Violin
Sam Swallow   Piano,Conductor
Matthew Healy   Drums,Piano,Guitar,Vocals,Keyboards,Guitar (Acoustic),Vocals (Background)
Adam Hann   Guitar
Derek Stein   Cello

Technical Credits

George Daniel   Synthesizer Programming,Composer,Producer,Programming
Ross MacDonald   Composer
Guendoline Rome Viray Gomez   Composer,Programming
David Campbell   String Arrangements
George Daniel   Composer
Robin Schmidt   Mastering
Jonathan Gilmore   Producer
Sam Swallow   Arranger
Matthew Healy   Composer,Producer
Adam Hann   Composer