[Shaun]

My review for this week:

I loved both of the 1975's previous two albums, and hated their debut. The last two were close contenders for "album of" their respective years; and A Brief Inquiry... is definitely one of the best of the 21st century, so I went into this with high expectations.

Those expectations... were not met. But that's not to say it's as deserving of the panning it's got from some (even Pitchfork still gave it an 8). A lot of the jabs the album has received seem to be personally-motivated, clouded by judgment that Matty Healy is a bit annoying on Twitter and their fans are largely similar to KPop stans. My biggest gripe with this is the sheer weight of it; dream sequence pianos linger a little too long and contribute nothing more to the album than an attempt at making their criticisms of the world more palatable. There are good messages (Greta Thunberg's opener) and there are muddled ones.

There are - thankfully - a handful of great tracks and some will perform very well in my best of 2020 lists. "Jesus Christ 2005 God Bless America" is gorgeous, featuring Phoebe Bridgers who's also just released an album this week; "If You're Too Shy (Let Me Know)" has drawn a lot of comparisons to Tears for Fears and I guess I can see the influence, but it's unique enough to stand out; and "Me & You Together Song" is haplessly cute. In hindsight it seems wise for them to go so far from their niche with the first single 'People' because it's a jolt of adrenaline in an album that could very easily be described as narcoleptic. Not my favourite song of theirs, though, by a long shot.

Shave off the following and you've got a great album: The End (Music for Cars), Streaming, Yeah I Know, Then Because She Goes, Shiny Collarbone and Having No Head

All in all I'd still give the album a 7.5... but it's an admitted dip in form for the band.