A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships
by The 1975

A socially-conscious album with gorgeous production, memorable solos, soulful singing, and decent (although not superb) songwriting. The album does not match the highs of the albums it tries to emulate, such as "Parklife" or "Different Class," but it does have its moments and for that it is to be commended. 9/10!

Sounds corny with the soundscape from the 80s. Everything's very polished and in my ears soulless. The sometimes jazzy sounds were nice. But all in all, I didn't like the sound of them, and it didn't touch my heart.

From pjohnsongolf 12/06/2020 17:27 | #262142

Dang broooooo this is good

My God, Love It If We Made It is one of the best songs of all time.

Best album by The 1975 so far and definitely their most consistent. They continue to experiment with different soundscapes and dynamics very effectively with several songs even having a jazzy feel to them. Topical, humorous, yet insightful lyrics that are easy to relate to. Definitely one of my favorites of 2018

Favorite tracks: Love It If We Made It, TOOTIMETOOTIMETOOTIME, It's Not Living (If It's Not With You), I Always Wanna Die (Sometimes)

Probably the best album of the last 2 years in my opinion. Its been over one year and I still listen to these songs every day, the letters are so mature and contemporany that almost feel they are talking abou my life.

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From IgnacioJoaquin 02/10/2019 08:51 | #231718

This album tackles a lot with more than mixed results.

The first half irreparably sinks and taints this record's chance of beign consider a masterpiece or "This generation's OK Computer" almost immediatly.
After the intro, any kind of mood is inexplicably destroyed by Give Yourself A Try, every trace of dignity and musicianship leaves completely with TOOTIMETOOTIMETOOTIME and the album just gives up, comes to a halt and throws itself in the garbage.
Luckily, Love It If We Made It saves this trainwreck just in time, but it's quickly stopped by Be My Mistake (not an awful track, but mediocre nonetheless), which is then upstaged by Sincerity Is Scary, ending the first half on a soulful high note.
This is a symptom of a consistent problem with the album: it's inconsistency. We jump from great to awful in less than five minutes, and it's not only jarring, but kinda weird, I mean, how can the flow be this fragile? How can the quality be all over the place like this, three albums in? It's almost as distracting as the fact that someone thought that America Likes Me should be on the album at all.

All this mess is accentuated more by the fact that most tracks in the second half* put a lot more effort and nuance into their theming and aesthetic trappings regarding their portrayal of present day politics, paranoia, discontent, love & loss dichotomies and the glamorization of depression, etc.

*Except for I Like America and The Man Who Married A Robot, which are awful, surface level dumpster fires and, are two of the worst songs on the entire band's catalogue.

Not only the lyrics of the final stretch of the album are an improvement over the first half, but also the songwriting and the cohesion of the music, especially on songs like I Always Wanna Die (Sometimes), Mine or It's Not Living (If It's Not With You).
The grooves are tighter, the strings are lusher and darker, the production is more colorful, vibrant, triumphant and anthemic, the lyrics are more poignant, the performances are livelier and actually introspective, even blissful and the emotions are way more genuine, unadulterated and heartfelt.

This album is ultimately, a touching experience unlike any other, that only this band could provide at this time and place, one that I still come back to and enjoy to a degree.
I just think that this album could've benefitted from more focus on the artistic side it was trying to present, rather than preserving the band's pop appeal.

Fave tracks: Love It If We Made It, I Always Wanna Die (Sometimes), Sincerity Is Scary, It's Not Living (If It's Not With You)

Least fave tracks: I Like America & America Likes Me, Give Yourself A Try, TOOTIMETOOTIMETOOTIME, The Man Who Married A Robot/ Love Theme

From Brad1770 01/11/2019 11:33 | #229485

The 1975's 3rd album 'A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships ' is quite simply a stunning album and clearly one of 2018's best albums.

The album is a perfect commentary on the condition of the always online connected millennial and their struggles. For proof look no further than this line from "Give Yourself a Try"

'I was 25 and afraid to go outside / a millennial that baby-boomers like'

This line resonated so strongly with me as my eldest daughter is a 19 yo millennial and she is literally afraid to go outside as her life is lived vicariously staring at a screen

Any commentary that this is anything other than a great album is straight up wrong , it has so many great tracks: the pillar track "Give Youself a Try" , the beautiful acoustics of " Be My Mistake" , the dripping sarcasm and online commentary of "The Man Who Married a Robot" , the absolutely beautiful strings of "Inside Your Mind" , the smokey piano bar ballad "Mine" to jaw dropping closer "I always Wanna Die" . No , this is a cracking release

This album is part A in a 2 part release with part B 'Notes on a Conditional Form' arriving in 2019 , we wait with bated breath for its arrival

This is what music should sound like in 2018 - well produced , smart , sassy , angry, confused , love lorn and varied like a mixed tape

Brilliant

I dismissed this band after their awful first album singles, but the sheer overbearing fawning of the music press surrounding the build up to this, their third LP, made me turn an ear. I was delighted with what I heard, ready to give any artist a second chance.

While I still find their "// A E S T H E T I C \\" cloying, there are so many fine ideas and the whole thing sounds lovely (apart from the Robot one).

1975/100