Album Review: The 1975 - The 1975

It's finally here. I've been waiting for this album since about September last year and it's finally here. There was a stage where I felt a bit uneasy about how good it would be. After (in my humble opinion) a few dodgy EP tracks, I wasn't entirely sure which direction the guys would go. The upbeat, pop influenced bounce of songs like 'Sex' had mass appeal and it would surely propel the lads from Manchester into the stratosphere. But then there were spaced- out, downbeat, ponderous tracks like 'Anobrain'. Don't get me wrong, the EP tracks aren't terrible, but I felt the overall cohesiveness of the tracks wasn't there and it worried me.

But do you know what? They've only gone and bloody nailed it. The album has all your favorite The 1975 tracks, 'Sex', 'Chocolate' and 'The City' feature as do awesome new tracks like 'M.O.N.E.Y' 'Girls' and 'Menswear'

There are, of course, a few slower tracks on the album, '12' being a stand-out one, but it doesn't tamper with the flow in any way, it's more of a bridge than a proper track anywho.

The influences run thick and deep here and it really shows. There's a lot of 80's style synth, just check out the intro to 'Heart Out' and you'll know exactly what I mean. But on top of that you'll be hearing the obvious Indie, RnB and electonica influences that interweave seamlessly through every track. Matt Healy and the boys also obviously pull a lot of influence from their contemporaries, 'Settle Down' could quite easily be a HAIM track and opener 'The 1975' sounds an awful lot like 'Cigarettes and Chocolate' by Chet Faker for a few seconds. I really love that they're not afraid to pay such direct homage to artists running in the same circles as them.

I always think, a great album is one I can listen to in its entirety and not feel like I have to skip through songs. By this benchmark, The 1975 is just fucking incredible. So much so that I just payed 11 of my hard earned British pound coins for the 39 track deluxe edition, which is not scheduled for worldwide release until 2nd of September. And you know what? I think it was worth every dam penny.

I could talk forever about this band, but instead I'll shut up and let you enjoy the awesomeness, that is The 1975.