THINKING ABOUT “BEING FUNNY IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE”

After The 1975 drew their Music for Cars era to a close with the release of their extensive 22-track Notes on a Conditional Form, the future of the band’s musical direction was incredibly unclear. A band notorious for their evocatively experimental discography that played with genre and deeply meditative themes throughout their 2012-2020 discography, it felt that they had quite literally covered all bases. This, therefore, posed the question: when they had seemingly done “everything” how were they to keep things fresh but still intricately stylised as they produced their fifth album?

The answer? downsizing. Being Funny In a Foreign Language with a mere 11 tracks fashions everything that is The 1975 and then strips it back to its barest form. Where their most previous album release Notes On A Conditional Form needed a more acquired taste to be viewed for its preposterously flamboyant and provocative genius. The new album unanimously is an unprecedented softer work of art. The 1975 have produced a beautifully raw and organic album that showcases a more intimate side to their music. The album symbiotically explores gentle simplicity and florid exuberance creating a track list that is embellished with a repertoire of jaunty jazz-pop, folk-rock and sweet love ballads.

In Being Funny In a Foreign Language, The 1975 have reinforced their importance within the Music Industry as a band that can and will do anything. The album explores the feeling of romantic ecstasy, familial relationships and the bittersweet highs and lows of adolescence. Where we usually see a more cynical approach to some of these human experiences within their music, on this occasion The 1975 offer a refreshing point of view. The album showcases their growth as a band subtly moving away from their more cynical persona to own homage to new unfiltered feelings while still encompassing the sarcastic undertones and satire The 1975 are reputable for. 

With the release of Being Funny In A Foreign LanguageThe 1975 have successfully innovated their early vibrant 80’s sound for the new era. They were right when they said it this is The 1975: At Their Very Best.