Manchester’s the 1975 are ostensibly a pop band, and thus built to pander to a broad audience. But their transparent attempt to woo as many people as possible on a record that moves between dance-floor rock swagger, synthesized indie rock ambience and bleary-eyed bedroom folk crooning takes artistic neediness to a strange level.
It’s not easy to criticize a band in 2016 for presenting multiple tones, sounds and genres. Open-minded plurality is a key signifier of enlightened thinking in the internet age, when dedicated generalists earn cachet. Of course, art made by such people can be a messy, disorganized affair – so, sure, compared to some of their peers, the 1975 are relatively coherent.
But even as they cop the slinky white funk of INXS and David Bowie on Love Me and aim for an easily romanced demographic with the electro-tinged ballad A Change Of Heart and the anguished The Ballad Of Me And My Brain, they sound suspiciously like dudes too eager to come off as sensitive and edgy.
Top track: This Must Be My Dream
