1975, The - Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships

2xLP on 180g Vinyl Listening to the 1975's ambitious, often frustrating third full-length album, 2018's A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships, it's clear that the Manchester outfit is not the same band that delivered their effusive 2013 debut. They sound somewhat more akin to the band that issued 2016's I Like It When You Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware of It. If that album found lead singer Matt Healy pushing the group's emo and post-punk influences ever pop-ward, embracing R&B and adult contemporary stylings, then A Brief Inquiry takes those changes even further. Some of these tracks, like "TOOTIMETOOTIMETOOTIME" and "Give Yourself a Try," sound like they could be demo recordings -- quickly captured song ideas rife with tinny programmed drums, electric guitars pushed a little too hot into the mix, and Healy's angsty croon buried in a gelatin haze of Auto-Tune. Elsewhere, they achieve a more grounded sophistication, offering up the sweet '90s R&B groove of "