A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships

by 
AlbumNov 30 / 201815 songs, 58m 33s
Art Pop
Popular Highly Rated

“I’m making pop records,” The 1975 frontman Matty Healy told Beats 1 host Matt Wilkinson. “When I say we’re a pop band, what I’m really saying is we’re not a rock band. Please stop calling us a rock band—’cause I think that’s the only music we *don’t* make.” It’s a fair comment: Thanks to their eclecticism and adventure, attempting to label The 1975 has been as easy as serving tea in a sieve. On their third album, the Cheshire four-piece are, once again, many things, including jazz crooners, 2-step experimentalists and yearning balladeers. What’s most impressive is their ability to wrangle all these ideas into coherent music—their outsize ambition never makes the songs feel cluttered. “I hate prog, I hate double albums, I hate indulgence,” said Healy. “I hate it when the world goes, ‘Hey, you’ve got our attention!’ and someone goes, ‘Right, well, if I’ve got your attention, how many guitar solos…’” Crucially, Healy’s lyrics add extra substance to—and bind together—the kaleidoscope of styles. On the neo-jazz of “Sincerity Is Scary,” he rails against a modern aversion to emotional expression. Broadly an album about love in the digital age, *A Brief Inquiry…* offers compelling insights into Healy’s own life. “It’s Not Living (If It’s Not With You)” provides an unvarnished account of his heroin addiction, while “Surrounded By Heads and Bodies” draws on his experiences in rehab and “Be My Mistake” examines guilt and compulsion. “Honestly, you can look at your work and be like, ‘What did I do there that someone likes?’” he said. “Me, when I’m, like, really personal or really inward, really honest, that’s when I get the best reaction.” Introspection needn’t breed a somber mood though. From the tropical pop of “Tootimetootimetootime” to the spry electro-indie of “Give Yourself a Try,” this is an album full of uplifting, melodic rushes. “My favorite records are about life,” said Healy. “It may be a bit of a big thing to say, but I like the all-encompassing aspect of life: You can have these bits, the sad bits, but don’t leave the dancing out, you know what I mean?”

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8.5 / 10

The British band’s outrageous and eclectic third album attests to the worth of putting in an honest effort in the face of near-constant gloom.

6 / 10

The 1975's third studio album ‘A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships’ is a game-changing moment. Read the NME review

9 / 10

Matty Healy and co present an astonishing opus of survival in an impossible world

The 1975- A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships

7.3 / 10

Stretch that song into an album and you have The 1975’s A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships.

The UK band's latest cuts through our social media malaise with some highly emotional songs and a sound that replicates the sonic placelessness of the streaming era

The most anticipated album of 2018 is also one of the very best.

A bombastic, immaculately put together portrait of modern life.

The band’s best album yet has enough hope, radical honesty and genre-spanning breadth to make sense across divided generations

AllMusic provides comprehensive music info including reviews and biographies. Get recommendations for new music to listen to, stream or own.

A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships is a considered, ambitious album from a band who are constantly pushing themselves.

8 / 10

Audacity is the 1975's bread and butter — no idea is too bold, no question too messy. So when word came that the English quartet were planni...

Modernity has failed us, but The 1975 haven’t | Gigwise /> <meta name=

3.0 / 10

Chuck D once said, "Don't believe the hype" and if it wasn't for the fact he made the statement back in 1988, the Public Enemy frontman could well have been talking about The 1975's A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships.

7 / 10

Five years ago, The 1975 were something close to a punchline. Adored by a certain demographic for being a “quirky” yet attractive band

(Dirty Hit)

A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships is a content-saturated album for a content-saturated world.

5 / 10

The 1975's third album, A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships, hit back in December 2018, just as we here at PopMatters were immersed in our wide...

Matt Healy and friends open up the contents of their record collection on an inventive third album that, like a drunk Facebook rant, veers from the inspired to the faintly regrettable

60 %

So what do you expect from The 1975?

Album Reviews: The 1975 - A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships

3.8 / 5

The 1975 - A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships review: A batch of quality pop songs – nothing more, nothing less.

The 1975 have been playing together since they were schoolboys in Cheshire in 2002, releasing a thrilling debut album in 2013 and developing in leaps and bounds ever since.

By expressing their own isolation, band may have switched on a light for many others

7 / 10