The Good: The three previous 1975 albums have seemed to exhaust all of the typical rock star tropes. But it is a reminder to pay attention: to the world, to yourself, and to arguably one of the best bands in the world right now. He even says it himself: “Unconsciousness is my drug of choice.” Notes isn’t a neat bow to tie up this era, but that’s exactly the point: life isn’t like that. Healy frustratedly shakes you to “wake up” to all the world’s fallacies while at the same time yearns to sleep away festering feelings. Created with the intention of concluding their Music for Cars era (which includes their early EPs and first three albums), Notes still doesn’t really feel like a resolution. Notes is an opus at the same time that it’s an ode to their previous works. We can go through their catalog and find deep cuts (see: “Antichrist”), sleepers, and oddly placed interludes, but without a doubt you’ll always find something (in this record’s case, a large number of tracks) that makes you sit back in your seat and go: “Holy fuck, where did that come from?” And Notes on a Conditional Form is exactly that. But you cannot deny they’re shamelessly ambitious. “Nana” makes me grimace in agony so much so that I completely avoid singing the line “now you’re dead.” And where to begin with their sophomore album title: I Like It When You Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful yet So Unaware of It. “TOOTIMETOOTIMETOOTIME” is a gimmicky pop song, but fun nonetheless. Feminist tirade aside, The 1975 can be silly.

The sound the 1975 album cover