Reflective, introspective, and a social commentary; the 1975’s Album A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships has it all.

The band is comprised of Matty Healy on vocals, Adam Hann on guitar, Ross MacDonald on bass and George Daniel on drums. Originally from England, the band has gained a massive following over the years with international success.

Since the band released several singles before the album’s release, fans got a taste of how the album would be. The singles they released spanned from various different styles, giving the album a much more eclectic feel.

The album starts with the song “The 1975,” which is the opening song on all of their previous albums as well, making the albums feel like they belong together, even as the band’s sound evolves. This album featured a remix, which made it feel fresh.

One of the standout songs from the album is “Love It If We Made It.” The song discusses a wide variety of social issues including immigration, the oppression of Black people in the United States, global warming and Donald Trump, to name a few. The song is filled with various references to pop culture, politics and headlines.

While the amount of references the band makes can be overwhelming, it conveys the way in which headlines and contemporary news can cause people to feel disconnected from everything happening in the world.

The lyrics that state, “Jesus save us / Modernity has failed us” encapsulate the tone and theme of the song. While the lyrics may be grim at times, the music is beautiful and carries their signature sound onto this album.

The album’s eclectic feel is evident as the band pushed themselves to create music that pushed their boundaries and spanned genres. An excellent example of this is the song titled, “I Like America & America Likes Me.”

Healy explained in an interview that the song is meant to feel and sound more like a SoundCloud rapper’s song, which comes across especially in the music within Healy’s utilization of heavy autotune for the introduction. As with the song “She’s American” from their prior album, the band references America’s serious gun problem, an issue that Healy has been vocal about on Twitter.

Healy sings, “Kids don’t want rifles, they want Supreme / No gun required! / Oh, will this help me lay down? / We’re scared of dying, it’s fine.” This references the way that kids in the United States are often robbed of a feeling of safety and would rather be focusing on things like fashion. It also could reference a sign one protester made that said it is easier to buy guns than Supreme.

 While there are many great lines in the song, one that stands out is “The internet looked at him and said, “Yes. I love you very, very, very, very, very, very much. I am your best friend. In fact, I love you so much that I never, ever want us to be apart ever again ever.’” The lyrics comment on society’s inability to be apart from the internet, social media, and their phones, but points out that it is difficult to do so when the internet can feel like the only place someone belongs.

The 1975 created a beautiful, timely album that explores many issues of our time. It is easily one of the best albums of the year that I have listened to.

My rating: 5/5