A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships is, overall, a sinisterly poetic jumble of nonsense. From the smart musicianship of “Sincerity is Scary” and “Inside Your Mind” to the yikes lyrics in “I Always Wanna Die (Sometimes)” and “The Man Who Married a Robot/Love Theme” to the jazzy, winter wonderland of “Mine” and “Surrounded by Heads and Bodies,” there’s obnoxious narcissism battling unwarranted self-deprecation. In flipping from techno clickbait of the main singles to artful and gentle surprise compositions, The 1975 disorients and impresses. Some cohesion would have been nice, but it wouldn’t have been The 1975.
Rating: 8/10
Dirty Hit/Interscope Records
Producers: Matthew Healy and George Daniel
