When The 1975 first broke upon the scene during late 2012, I was instantly of the opinion that their music was going to be too hardline rock for my liking, but you know as time has revealed despite Matt Healey and Co’s rockstar personas, simmering underneath this pretension of bravado there lurks a fair amount of popcentrity and synths. Which you don’t’ have to scratch too far beneath the surface to find.
Admittedly I was late to the party, but have since wholeheartedly played catch-up embracing the electro-rocking fuzziness, of the bands statement pop giving anthems which amount to “The City”, “Chocolate” and “Heart Out” as my choice favourites.
So when the band recently, oh so mysteriously announced they had plotted a change in their sound, in going forwards into their gargantuan titled sophomore album “I Like It When You Sleep For You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware Of It”. I was not going to be so blind-sided this time around, so I wasn’t.
Come back single “Love Me” was first aired as Annie Mac’s “Hottest Record In The World” a couple of weeks ago, and I was there tuning in and thrown into a frenzy of excitement at the kookily filtered sounds of the 80’s that met my ears.
What did I hear? I heard a fair amount of Duran Duran, Prince and INXS squished together which actually presented itself as sensory unification of neon and noise and was quite an intriguing slap to the senses!
Consequently I’ve been unable to determine whether “Love Me” is pop or rock, or pop and rock together but ultimately there isn’t much out there that sounds anywhere near like it and to me that makes “Love Me” all the more refreshing.
Now the video has dropped, it can be seen that it plays heavily to an 80’s aesthetic of pop star culture and living to excess, and features a line-up of modern age pop icons where we see 1D’s Harry Styles along with Ed Sheeran rubbing shoulders with Elvis.
It is all a little bit ridiculous, but makes the point clearly albeit, firmly tongue- in-cheek, that the trappings of fame in the digital age are no less self-indulgent as they were going back a libbed up generation ago.
It’s a parody folks let’s take it at that….. Meanwhile, I’m so searching out my copy of Duran Duran’s “Notorious”, because this is where “Love Me” is leading me in throwback vibes the most.