Notes on a Conditional Form
Notes on a Conditional Form | ||||
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Released | 22 May 2020 | |||
Recorded | August 2018 - February 2020 | |||
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Length | 80:30 | |||
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The 1975 chronology | ||||
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Singles from Notes on a Conditional Form | ||||
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Notes on a Conditional Form is the upcoming fourth studio album by English band The 1975, scheduled for release on 22 May 2020 through Dirty Hit and Polydor Records. The album follows their third album A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships (2018) and is the second of two albums from their third release cycle, "Music for Cars".
Background
In 2017, The 1975 announced their third studio album would be titled Music for Cars,[1] in reference to their third extended play of the same name. Lead singer Matty Healy stated on Twitter that the band would release the album in 2018, followed by the release of an album under the name Drive Like I Do, the band's previous moniker, in the spring of the next coming years.[2]
On 31 May 2018, the band released the single "Give Yourself a Try" from their third studio album, now titled A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships. With the release came the announcement that Music for Cars was no longer an album, but rather an "era" containing two albums, scrapping the planned Drive Like I Do album in favour of releasing a fourth studio album in May 2019.[3]
On 21 February 2019, the band announced that the first single from the album would release on 31 May, with the album following "before Reading Festival", which took place on 23 August 2019.[4]
During a Reddit AMA on 5 March 2019, a fan asked if the album would be an emo record, to which Healy responded "Kind of yeah".[5] He later reiterated the comment in an article with NME on 15 April 2019; "I'm an active emo man I suppose I'd call myself, I think that bands when they get to a stage that maybe we're in they wanna kind of graduate into being like a massive rock band whereas we wanna graduate like into being a small emo band, if you know what I mean".[6]
On 14 April 2019, Healy also shared a promotional image on Twitter teasing artwork for the album.[7] Three days later, Healy retweeted a video of him performing an unreleased song titled "Jesus Christ 2005 God Bless America", and adding the caption "Notes".[8]
On 23 July 2019, as with all other eras, all social media pages associated with the band became deactivated. The next day, all band accounts were reactivated and the first song on the album, "The 1975", was released, featuring a monologue from climate change activist Greta Thunberg. A countdown then began counting down to the release of the lead single, "People", which was released on 22 August 2019. The album was subsequently announced for release on 21 February 2020 via an iTunes preorder. It will be 22 tracks long. "Frail State of Mind" then followed later in the year, being released on 24 October 2019.[9]
On 13 January 2020, the album's release was pushed back to 24 April 2020, and the album cover was changed, changing back to the original artwork two days later.[10] On 30 March 2020, the date released of the album was pushed back again to 22 May 2020, and the album cover was once again changed.[11]
Music
In an interview with Annie Mac on BBC Radio 1, Healy explained that the album would be inspired by British nighttime culture, adding that it contains references to "the beauty of the M25 and all those lights and going to McDonald's and listening to garage records in a haze in a Peugeot 206."[12] He also told Q that the album has a style similar to English alternative hip hop music group the Streets and British electronic musician Burial.[13] In a separate interview, he added that the record has "one of my best lyrics ever."[14]
On Beats 1, Healy confirmed that the first single will be released at midnight on 31 May 2019, and said that the band are trying to decide between three songs to lead off the next album.[15] However, they did not release any new music on 31 May nor the weekend. Later that week, Healy stated "I will start putting music out in August but I really don't know when the whole album will be out".[16]
On 24 July 2019, the band released the first song off the album, "The 1975". This introduction, unlike previous years, featured an essay from Swedish climate change activist Greta Thunberg.
On 22 August 2019, the band released the lead single entitled "People". The song was praised for Healy's emotion as well as its intense rock sound. The song's release was accompanied by a music video directed by Warren Fu.
On 25 October 2019, the band released the second single off the album, titled "Frail State of Mind". The song premiered on Zane Lowe's Beats 1 Radio Show on Apple Music. A music video for the song was released on 21 November 2019.[17]
The third single from the album, "Me & You Together Song", was premiered as Annie Mac's Hottest Record in the World on BBC Radio 1 on 16 January 2020.[18]
The fourth single, "The Birthday Party", was released on 19 February 2020. Frontman Matty Healy previously described "The Birthday Party" as being about the "interesting social minutiae of house parties".[19] The song was accompanied by a music video directed by Ben Ditto including digital avatars of the band members, well-known memes and artwork by Jon Emmony.
The fifth single, "Jesus Christ 2005 God Bless America", was released on 3 April 2020 and featured vocals from American singer-songwriter Phoebe Bridgers.
The sixth single, "If You're Too Shy (Let Me Know)", was released on 23 April 2020. It was premiered during the Notes On A Conditional Form Tour. The song features uncredited opening vocals from British singer FKA Twigs. An edited version of the song was also released along with the single, omitting the opening of the song, the prelude to the sax solo, and the end of the sax solo.[20]
The seventh single, "Guys" was released on 13 May 2020. It was also premiered during the Notes On A Conditional Form Tour with "If You're Too Shy (Let Me Know)".[21]
Critical reception
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
NME | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Q | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Dork magazine | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
The Sunday Times Magazine | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
The Irish Times | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Clash | 8/10[24] |
Live4ever Media | 8/10[25] |
GIGWISE | 8/10[26] |
In an exclusive review for NME, Dan Stubbs gave the album a perfect score, calling it a "go-anywhere, do-anything record"; he particularly praised its diversity of musical styles and Healy's confessional lyrics as "totally, refreshingly unfiltered."[27]
Track listing
All tracks are written by Matthew Healy and George Daniel, except where noted; all tracks are produced by Matthew Healy and George Daniel, except where noted.
No. | Title | Length |
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1. | "The 1975" (written by: Healy, Daniel, Greta Thunberg) | 4:55 |
2. | "People" (produced by: Healy, Daniel, Jonathan Gilmore) | 2:38 |
3. | "The End (Music for Cars)" | 2:30 |
4. | "Frail State of Mind" | 3:53 |
5. | "Streaming" | 1:32 |
6. | "The Birthday Party" | 4:45 |
7. | "Yeah I Know" | 4:13 |
8. | "Then Because She Goes" (produced by: Healy, Daniel, Gilmore) | 2:07 |
9. | "Jesus Christ 2005 God Bless America" | 4:24 |
10. | "Roadkill" (produced by: Healy, Daniel, Gilmore) | 2:55 |
11. | "Me & You Together Song" (produced by: Healy, Daniel, Gilmore) | 3:27 |
12. | "I Think There's Something You Should Know" | 4:00 |
13. | "Nothing Revealed / Everything Denied" | 3:38 |
14. | "Tonight (I Wish I Was Your Boy)" (written by: Healy, Daniel, Guendoline Rome Viray Gomez) | 4:07 |
15. | "Shiny Collarbone" | 2:50 |
16. | "If You're Too Shy (Let Me Know)" (produced by: Healy, Daniel, Gilmore) | 5:19 |
17. | "Playing on My Mind" | 3:24 |
18. | "Having No Head" | 6:04 |
19. | "What Should I Say" | 4:06 |
20. | "Bagsy Not in Net" | 2:26 |
21. | "Don't Worry" (written by: Tim Healy) | 2:48 |
22. | "Guys" (produced by: Healy, Daniel, Gilmore) | 4:29 |
Total length: | 80:30 |
Personnel
The 1975
Technical
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Orchestral arrangements
Additional musicians
Art direction
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See also
References
- ^ Gordon, Jeremy (27 April 2017). "The 1975 Announce New Album Music for Cars". Spin. Retrieved 2 December 2018.
- ^ Milton, Jamie (8 June 2017). "Who are Drive Like I Do?". NME. Retrieved 2 October 2019.
- ^ "Beats 1 on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved 2 December 2018.
- ^ "Matty Healy confirms the 1975's first 'Notes on a Conditional Form' single will be out May 31st". substreammagazine.com. Retrieved 5 March 2019.
- ^ "ACKLIOS comments on It's me I'm here I'm Watching". Reddit. Retrieved 18 April 2019.
- ^ "Matty Healy teases details and artwork of The 1975's "sort of emo" new album, 'Notes On A Conditional Form'". NME. Retrieved 18 April 2019.
- ^ "matty on Twitter: Notes On A Conditional Form". NME. Retrieved 18 April 2019.
- ^ "matty on Twitter: Notes". Retrieved 18 April 2019 – via Twitter.
- ^ "Notes On a Conditional Form by The 1975". Apple Music. Retrieved 31 March 2020.
- ^ "NEWS: The 1975 delay 'Notes On A Conditional Form' and change artwork!". DEAD PRESS! | It's more than "just music" to us. 14 January 2020. Retrieved 7 March 2020.
- ^ Shaffer, Claire (30 March 2020). "The 1975 Postpone 'Notes on a Conditional Form' Release Date (Again)". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
- ^ "BBC Radio 1 on Twitter". Twitter. 18 October 2018. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
- ^ Earls, John (14 January 2019). "The 1975 reveal surprise influences for next album 'Notes On A Conditional Form'". NME. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
- ^ a b Krol, Charlotte (30 November 2018). "The 1975's Matty Healy says 2019 album 'Notes On A Conditional Form' has elements of UK garage and his "best lyrics ever"". NME. Retrieved 2 December 2018.
- ^ Beats1 (21 February 2019). ""The first single comes out midnight, May 31st." @Truman_Black says @the1975 are trying to decide between three songs to lead off the next album". Retrieved 21 February 2019.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Connick, Tom (4 June 2019). "The 1975's new album 'Notes On A Conditional Form': Release date, tour dates and everything we know so far". NME. Retrieved 23 June 2019.
- ^ Greenwood, Koltan (21 November 2019). "The 1975 release evocative "Frail State Of Mind" video".
- ^ "The 1975 to release 'Me & You Together Song' next week". DIY. 8 January 2020. Retrieved 9 January 2020.
- ^ "The 1975's next single 'The Birthday Party' is coming tomorrow". 18 February 2020.
- ^ https://pitchfork.com/news/listen-to-the-1975-new-song-if-youre-too-shy-let-me-know/
- ^ https://www.nme.com/news/music/the-1975-to-release-new-single-guys-tomorrow-evening-2666973
- ^ Verrico, Dan Cairns, Mark Edwards and Lisa. "On record: pop, rock and jazz — May 17". ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
{{cite news}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Murphy, Lauren. "The 1975: Notes on a Conditional Form review – passionate if indulgent work pushes boundaries". The Irish Times. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
- ^ "The 1975 - Notes On A Conditional Form". Clash Magazine. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
- ^ "Album Review:The 1975 - Notes On A Conditional Form". :Live4ever Media. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
- ^ "The Most Interesting And Confusing Major Release By An Arena Selling Guitar Band In A Long While". gigiwise.
{{cite web}}
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(help); Text "https://www.gigwise.com/reviews/3380472/album-review-the-1975-notes-on-a-conditional-form" ignored (help) - ^ Stubbs, Dan (1 May 2020). "EXCLUSIVE: The 1975, 'Notes On A Conditional Form' – the world's first review". NME. Retrieved 1 May 2020.