Healy may get lost in his head, but I Like It… is a delightful, overshare-y trip that celebrates a new era of boundaryless pop. As for that Tumblr rant of a title, they’re forgiven.
By any standard, it’s an expansive collection, riddled with caution-to-the-wind sonic experiments and bits of alchemical production flourishes. Surprisingly, though, there aren’t any significant misfires here.
Not every moment of I Like It When You Sleep works perfectly, but it’s exhilarating to hear a band stretch past their comfort zone in so many different ways.
Admittedly, at 17 tracks, I Like It When You Sleep is long. And given the poetic, atmospheric nature of many of the songs, it's somewhat unwieldy in one sitting. Ultimately, however, it's that uncompromising mix of POP (in capitalize letters) and inventive, exploratory musicianship that help make it such a rewarding listen.
What these songs share, the pairing of Healy's witty, bratty lyricism with athletic and adventurous musicianship, prove that this band is comfortable moving in all directions at once.
The 1975 may well carry themselves like flash-in-the-pan New Romantic wave-riders ... but their second LP details a desire to leave something long-lasting.
For Britain's biggest young guitar band to ditch laddy machismo, embrace the boy band ideal, and run on feeling rather than posturing—that feels kind of radical. When you sleep can be far too much, but it's not cynical.
The album's rambling, vaguely emo title is a giveaway: Despite opening big, bright and airtight, I Like It When You Sleep ... gets boring-melty during dream-gaze reveries like "Please Be Naked" and "Lostmyhead."
The upbeat pop of The 1975’s début remains far less frequent on their return than many would have predicted. This would not be an issue if I Like It… was tighter, but at almost 75 minutes long, it does begin to seriously drag towards its baggy conclusion.
The album ultimately feels like the half-breed cousin of Duran Duran’s druggiest years, re-imagined in light of a millennial pop formula. It sounds like a band shooting for the moon too soon.
I like it is a respectable but bloated labor of love that gets in its own way nearly as often as it succeeds. Sometimes less is more.
Even though there are intriguing depths behind the 1975’s worship of surfaces, I Like It When You Sleep feels a little like what pop albums used to feel like – the hits, padded out by filler.
Even as they cop the slinky white funk of INXS and David Bowie on Love Me and aim for an easily romanced demographic with the electro-tinged ballad A Change Of Heart and the anguished The Ballad Of Me And My Brain, they sound suspiciously like dudes too eager to come off as sensitive and edgy.
#1 | / | Dork |
#1 | / | NME |
#3 | / | Digital Spy |
#3 | / | Drowned in Sound |
#5 | / | SPIN |
#6 | / | Idolator |
#7 | / | Clash |
#8 | / | Billboard |
#9 | / | Q Magazine |
#9 | / | The Times / The Sunday Times |