The 1975 – A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships

By: Bri Bradley

The 1975, fronted by Matty Healy, released their third studio album A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships on November 30th. This is the band’s first album to not be produced by regular collaborator Mike Crossey. Prior to the album release, the band had released five singles that received high praise. With I Like It When You Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware of It being one of my favorite albums of the last few years, I had very high expectations for the new album and to my pleasant surprise, it succeeded.

Just like their previous album, the project begins with the song “The 1975”. The song is mostly instrumental and autotune, but it still manages to be a beautiful song and is the perfect intro to the album. I appreciated familiarity with the opening track and enjoyed it starting off the album. “Give Yourself a Try” is the next song we hear and it was the first single to be released. Unfortunately, I was underwhelmed with this track. It becomes very repetitive and the background music is piercingly annoying. Throughout the album, I went back and forth from loving one song to the next one being just okay, but I never came across an overall bad track.

A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships has the typical “1975 sound” that we all know and love. I would not say that this album stood out to me in any way, and I wouldn’t say that it is going to be the best album in The 1975’s discography, but nonetheless the album is still strong. Personally, I enjoyed the familiarity. I fell in love with The 1975 for their unique sound and beautiful lyrics and that is what I want to hear from each album. Oftentimes, artists try to completely change their sound and direction from album to album and this can often cause them to fall flat. Sometimes artists taking risks can be a positive, but as someone who does not enjoy change, I am thankful that this album from The 1975 provides me with their familiar sound.

The album also presents with a good flow from track to track; something I have always appreciated from the band. Each song tells a story that ties together with other tracks on the album, making it seamless and cohesive: a trait that seems to put on the back burner with newer album releases. Per usual, the lyrics from the album are the shining star. Whether the song’s lyrics make you happy and optimistic (“Give Yourself a Try”) or hit so close to home you think Matty might have wrote the song for you (“Be My Mistake”); you cannot deny the lyrical quality of each track.

The final track on the album, “I Always Wanna Die (Sometimes)”, was not one of my favorites and caused the end of the album to fall a little flat. However, I was able to look past that due to the fact that some of the album’s absolute best tracks are at the end, (“Mine” and “I Couldn’t Be More In Love”).  I will always keep coming back for more when it comes to The 1975 and thankfully I won’t have to wait very long with another new album due to come out in 2019. While this album may not have brought a new sound with it, it did bring a wonderful familiarity that made A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships feel like I was once again home with The 1975.

Rating: 8/10

Favorite Tracks: “Be My Mistake”, “Mine”, “I Couldn’t Be More In Love”