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The 1975 - Notes On A Conditional Form (Review)

Bloated, inconsistent and self absorbed - this is The 1975 at their most criticisable...
The 1975 - Notes on a Conditional Form Lyrics and Tracklist | Genius
The 1975 have always been a divisive band. Over the course of their career, they've certainly made some questionable choices both within and outside of the music itself, and as you'd expect that results in a band who boast one of the largest fanbases of any "non-mainstream" acts right now as well as a dedicated cohorts of consistent haters. Curiously, most of the big critics generally seem to follow one another in their opinion of the band, which meant that out of nowhere there was a flurry of critical support for the band's third album A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships. Now, I'll be the first to admit that I myself was a little caught up in the excitement of that record's release, after all, I was a pretty big fan of the band at the time. I definitely didn't give myself the time to sit with it, or I would have realised that nearly everything I liked about the album was concentrated in only a select few songs.

Now, why the majority of critics decided to jump about The 1975's hype train at the same time is beyond me, no it's certainly not because it was actually their best album, but it probably had a lot to do with their transition away from glitzy synthpop and into a more expansive range of jazz, electronic and mainly art pop, styles that critics are generally far more kind to. On top of all that, a lot of the lyrical themes began incorporating a great deal of social commentary and references to social media and issues of the time, which is again a far more appealing subject matter to commend than the personal musings of the band's previous works. None of these changes in style make the music inherently better, after all everything should be judged by its individual and contextual quality and not simply by its aesthetic or themes, especially when you don't actually deliver much of interest with those themes, or don't make interesting music within a certain aesthetic. In my (revised) opinion, The 1975 definitely failed to deliver on exactly those things with that album, and it has definitely become my least favourite of their first three. It's also their most critic-baity but, as I've stated, that doesn't equate to actual quality.

Now, here we arrive at the long delayed (by over a year) fourth album from the band, the pretentiously titled Notes On A Conditional Form. Pretentious titles are nothing new for the band, but this one definitely represents the most ostentatious phase in their career thus far, and also their most hollow. At least with their previous pretentious titles there was an actual link in with the album itself, whereas the title here is about as abstract and meaningless as you can get - the worst kind of pretentious. That brings us to another problem though - the framing. Matty Healy, the band's egotistical frontman, has stated numerous times that this is their most personal record. Why then is this an album littered by frustrating instrumentals ranging from bland orchestral interludes (The End; Streaming) to substanceless electronic pastiches that pull too much from artists like Jamie xx and Burial (Yeah I Know; Shiny Collarbone; Playing On My Mind). Literally none of these songs land and they're about as devoid of emotion you can get, the former two serving no purpose other than breaking up and extending the tracklist whilst the latter three attempt to show off the band's eclectic taste by completely ripping off far more interesting artists. All of these tracks are a waste of space, and on an album with 22 tracks, that's a big problem.

One thing I definitely noticed is that this is far and away the band's worst-produced album yet, Matty and George self-producing from the studio as usual but somehow not coming out with the deliciously polished standard they've set with previous albums. It seems that they spread themselves thin over the longer tracklist and didn't spend enough time on each song, even despite this thing being delayed about five times, and lots of the songs sound rushed with a lot less care and precision being directed into their soundscapes, something that should have been essential given the number of electronic tracks here. Perhaps more disturbing was the news that the track "Bagsy Not In Net" was created only to fill the space needed by Matty's promise for a 22 track album. That means they only had 21 tracks, all of which they used. Usually when creating an album, artists will have to choose and narrow down to only their best work, whereas here it seems like the band were really struggling to fill their self imposed quota. Yes I know not every album has to be made in the same way, but when the result is an album with waaay too many songs that come across as entirely redundant, I think there's an obvious conclusion to be drawn. More on that later.

Now, I don't want to spend too long talking about individual tracks, due to the fact that I've actually done a separate Track-by-Track review where I look at every single song. That said, I do want to highlight a few key tracks. Firstly, I wanted to mention a song I actually enjoyed, that being the huge improvement in a garage oriented track in the form of "Frail State Of Mind". It certainly took its time to grow on me, but it holds a pretty firm grip on me now as its chimy, glitchy beat resonates as not just a fantastically produced but also an emotional high point on an album bogged down by far too many tracks that are monotonous and emotionless, "Playing On My Mind" serving as the album's most forgettable and worthless track. But not the worst. No, that would have to go to the insult-on-my-ears that is "Yeah I Know", a track with a laughably terrible refrain in chipmunked vocals, the most stale and repetitive two-step beat and almost no instrumental progressions whatsoever. This is the worst song on the album.

Overall, I don't think it will be much of a surprise to anyone who's just read this, but I can't say I'm feeling very positively towards this album. It's overstuffed, full of unnecessary tracks and interludes that serve no real purpose, Matty gives some of his most frustrating performances here and a lot of the music feels like it's on autopilot, exploring lots of avenues yes but not really committing to any one sound in order to get the most out of it. It definitely lacks the creative energy of say The Voidz' Virtue (yes I know I bring it up too often) and how that album consistently provides entertaining views into a range of subgenres. I feel confident in calling this The 1975's worst album, and without a doubt it's their least consistent.

4/10

Best Tracks: Frail State Of Mind; Jesus Christ 2005 God Bless America; Me & You Together Song; What Should I Say; Guys

Worst Tracks: The 1975; Yeah I Know; Tonight (I Wish I Was Your Boy); Shiny Collarbone; Playing On My Mind; Bagsy Not In Net

I think this will become my new go-to album as an example of listening experience that would be massively enhanced provided the tracklist was cut down, in this case by more than half of the songs. To truly highlight this, I can think of no better way that to bring back the old segment To Improve the Tracklisting (catchy name, I know). I'll be trimming this album down to its ten best songs, and reordering them in order to make for an album that flows far better in a more enjoyable and cohesive listen. And here it is:

1. People
2. Then Because She Goes
3. Me & You Together Song
4. Guys
5. Jesus Christ 2005 God Bless America
6. If You're Too Shy (Let Me Know)
7. Having No Head
8. What Should I Say
9. I Think There's Something You Should Know
10. Frail State Of Mind

Quite frankly, if this were the actual tracklisting, it would have a shot at being my favourite The 1975 album. Yeah, that stings a little b- no, that stings a whole lot. Ouch.

I've also done a Track-by-Track review of this album, given there's so many songs and I have opinions on all of them. You can check that out here: https://withmusicinmindellipsis.blogspot.com/2020/07/the-1975-notes-on-conditional-form_15.html?m=1


Check out the music video for "Frail State Of Mind"


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"Notes On A Conditional Form"
The 1975
22nd May 2020
Dirty Hit / Polydor
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