Notes On A Conditional Form - The 1975: Review
are a Manchester pop rock band who has been releasing commercially and critically successful records for the better part of a decade now. Notes follows a long run of singles in the two year gap since the bands last record and it was delayed in order to be fully completed, and the result is the groups longest record yet at 80 minutes and 22 tracks.
Review By Lav:
I have been a 1975 fan for as long as the band has been around and both their self-titled debut record The 1975 and their third record A Brief History Into Online Relationships landed on my albums of the decade list at the end of last year. Normally with a record this long with this many songs I would generalize to try and synthesize my opinions but with a bad that I have the respect and admiration for like The 1975 I want to do this right, so strap in. This record is long, indulgent and features a wide variety of sounds and genres which means making any sense of the record can be difficult but I'm going to try and do my best to break down everything the record does well as well as what it could do better.
8 of these songs were released as singles and some feel particularly far removed as the first three were released last year in 2019 starting with the first two tracks on the album. If you're familiar with the band you know that they open each of their records with tracks called The 1975 that have the same lyrics but are performed differently each time. This time around the band has changed out the typical lyrics of the track for a Greta Thunberg narrated message on the impending climate change disaster over a classic ambient type instrumental. The song is a powerful message that kicks the record off in a profound way that feels necessary and intentional and I don't have any qualms with it. Especially not when the records lead single People comes up immediately after and brings the fire of a blistering punk tune that sounds nothing like the band has ever released before. I love the song as a single and I think it is even better here as Matty's raw energy and thrashing vocals pair perfectly with his message of individualism and makes the song a huge success.
These two tracks were a little bit out of character for the band but the next 6 singles were a mostly great mix of the kinds of singles the group has been working with for years. Jesus Christ 2005 God Bless America is the most instrumentally stripped back of all the singles but it does this perfectly as Matty Healy and Phoebe Bridgers both bring funny and charming performances to the song with memorable lyrics and pretty vocals. Me & You Together Song is one of the catchiest pop rock tunes I've heard all year. The hook is glittery and instantly infectious which makes the perfect pairing for Matty's pretty performance coming together into a great track. If You're Too Shy Let Me Know may be my favorite of the singles the band put out this year with a fluttering dreamy instrumental palette highlighted by some shimmering guitar riffs. This comes tied together with a killer hook with some soaring vocal harmonies and I love everything about the track. One of the songs that sounds better in the tracklist of the record than it did as a single is the song Guys. On the album it is the closing track and a beautiful tribute from Matty to his fellow band members and the fans. As somebody that has been riding with the band I think the message is a really beautiful way to close off the album but the song itself is sonically excellent too. All in all I think the track does a lot for the record as a closing moment and numbs some of the wasted time on the record when you finish it on a really high note.
I didn't outright hate any of the singles but there were definitely two that stood out as not quite as great as the others. Frail State Of Mind came out last year and I had honestly kind of forgotten about it. The track is fine and has some dreamy vocal harmonies and a bouncing beat but fails to really get it off the ground and doesn't stand out much in this tracklist. The Birthday Party is the most outright boring of the songs despite some decent refrains the track is 5 minutes long and with the instrumental passages spreading out verses here I just don't love the song as much as I could.
The most consistent bunch of the tracks on the record are when the band follows the footsteps and makes exciting pop rock tracks that could have appeared on some of the groups other records. Then Because She Goes is just two minutes long but spares no time delivering an explosive pop rock instrumental and some emotion soaked vocals that throws me back to some of the bands best material of old. Roadkill is a typically wordy track from the band with some slick guitar work and an incredibly smooth hook. Despite a cringey lyrics or two I can't help but enjoy the record quite a bit. Tonight is also great with some wonderfully sweet rhythm guitar work and a pretty vocal passage that I find just buttery on the ears. Such a sweet and well written song getting hidden in the long tracklist here is unfortunate because I think more people could really appreciate it.
The record is unafraid to experiment with all kinds of sounds they have never dabbled with before and at a few points on this record it really works. The End is actually an ambient passage that is a revitalization and re-imagining of a track from the bands Music For Cars EP. That era seems to be a big piece of inspiration on this album and seeing this song redone felt like a fitting and worthwhile moment on the album. Shiny Collarbone is definitely one of the stronger songs on here and it has a beat that almost feels like it's setting up for a house of club tune with its sampled vocals. You could genuinely convince me that this is some wild leftover from the Against All Logic record earlier this year the only difference is the sound quality of the piece. Don't Worry is a hazy piano ballad that sees some of Matty's best lyricism across the entire album and comes after a pair of weaker songs to help the record end off on a huge high note. When he is pouring his heart out into the performance it makes for a memorable and amazing moment.
One of the cardinal sins this record stumbles into is essentially re-doing songs the band has made better before. Yeah I Know is a track that the band tends to make pretty frequently a glitchy ballad type song with tight drum machine and pitch manipulated vocals. I just don't see any reason why I would listen to this song over something like How To Draw / Petrichor. I Think There's Something You Should Know is even worse because the instrumental is almost indistinguishable from Sincerity Is Scary and I can't help but compare the tracks as a result. Something by comparison has a pretty dry refrain and I think the song is just generally underwritten which is why it spends so much time wandering through Matty's vocalizations. Finally Playing On My Mind is this formula put to its most boring as the song sounds like the weakest ballads on the bands sophomore record dragged down even further until it is nearly comatose.
Speaking of nearly comatose What Should I Say is completely unnecessary in the tracklist because the vocal effects sucks absolutely all the life out of Matty's performance and on top of that the repeated refrains get boring really fast. It's a shame because the song has a decent instrumental that doesn't get he song it deserved. Bagsy Not In Net is the very next song and once again feels like it serves no purpose here. The track is so airy that nothing concrete comes out of it with the vocals so muddled in the mix, the track is a glorified percussion loop that sounds fine for a few minutes then gets instantly forgotten.
One of the most experimental songs on the entire record was Having No Head a six minute track that runs through some very distinct phases, The first two minutes of the song is a stark isolated piano passage before some distant and dreamy instrumentation slowly works its way into the track and starts off a really curious build. About halfway through the track it properly kicks off into a kind of strange once again electronica inspired track. It is clearly beat driven but it always manages to sound like a verse or hook from Matty is right around the corner. Honestly the song is a cool experiment but certainly not one of my favorites on the record and I think the 6 minute runtime is more than a little excessive.
I think the worst song of the bunch if Nothing Revealed / Everything Denied which opens up with a pretty cool choir backing Matty's sweet singing. Once the vocals start I have a complaint to administer that I have never laid against a 1975 song before because the band has been pretty original over the years. This core of this track is a BLATANT rip off of The Neighborhood as Matty delivers some pseudo rapped bars that so clearly mimic Jesse Rutherford over a dark but still really soft instrumental.
Notes On A Conditional Form isn't perfect and certainly doesn't come close to justifying its 80 minute runtime. I think there is an awesome 50 minute record within the tracklist of this album but the wasted time over some of these songs and across the record can't be ignored. Finding a sweet spot for how to judge the record is something I've been going back and forth on a lot as I listened to this record more times than I'd like to admit over this past week. Ultimately I think the record has some really admirable experimentation across the tracklist that makes it a varied and interesting listen, and the most disappointing moments for me weren't experiments gone awry, but times the bands songwriting dipped into all too familiar territory. Some of the best singles and songs I've heard all year pop up on the record but there are numerous tracks on here I have absolutely no need to ever revisit again. 6.5/10
Album Cover Review by Tyler Judson: This cover has just the right amount of busyness and doesn't cross that line that could've possibly made it too much to look at. The different textures and layering of graphics is successful and the splash of the yellow sidebar is a graphic element that brings the composition together The white space in the center with the title is so important as it allows breathing room. 8/10
For more pop rock check out my review of Hayley William's Petals For Armor here
