Rocks are interesting. They can be climbed upon, picked up, thrown, shaped into tools and, perhaps most notably, lived under. Those partaking in the latter might be yet to hear of Manchester’s newest musical sensation, The 1975. Their recent packed out performances at Reading and Leeds Festival and their forthcoming sold out tour are testament to their unrivalled popularity. They have even managed to all-but sell out a number of venues in early 2014.
Some may be surprised to find them gracing the pages of a punk website (some of you may not be overly surprised… they are everywhere). The thing about The 1975 is that they don’t really fit in anywhere, punk or otherwise. There’s little on their debut record to endear the quintet to exclusive fans of punk, but their meteoric rise to fame is in the most part due to their crossover appeal.
The main reason The 1975 are featuring here is their originality. Despite a few quibbles over their inherently catchy mainstream sound, all sixteen songs on this debut defy what has come to be the musical norm. Amalgamating a wealth of styles, particularly from the synth-driven 80s, The 1975 cram more ingenuity into their accessible four minute belters than most artists across all genres.
Noted for their willingness to experiment (alongside their “breakthrough” single ‘Chocolate’), the album deliberately removes the non-lyrical interludes and drawn out soundscapes in favour of an assault on the pop senses. The heavier lyrical content of some of the material forming their four prior EPs is replaced by commentary on sex, drugs and everyday life.
There’s no hint of the suicidal bleakness of ‘Me’ on the full-length. Instead the upbeat hits rule the roost – ‘Chocolate’, ‘This City’ and ‘Sex’ dominate the opening third, while new standouts like ‘Heart Out’ and the vague surf-pop undertones of ‘Girls’ flow through the middle. Only the album’s power ballad – ‘Robbers’ – falls slightly wide of the mark.
Honing their R&B influences on ‘Pressure’ and bringing the piano to the forefront on ‘Is There Somebody Who Can Watch You’, The 1975 close the album with a distinct nod towards their diversity. Where R&B seeps through, stadium rock bubbles in the undercurrent and vice versa. All the while the alternative rock that originally garnered the band attention still runs through their veins.
‘The 1975’ is a record that covers none of the basis, and through this proves genuinely exciting. The reason you will hear about them everywhere is because they belong anywhere. There may be nothing distinctly punk here but with crossover potential spilling over, The 1975 will be hanging around everybody’s radar.
BEN TIPPLE