The sonic experimentation from the Oxford foursome continues on the second LP, but this time it's personal.
Glass Animals/ How To Be a Human Being
On Glass Animals' 2014 debut album Zaba, Dave Bayley and co crafted a body of work so wonderfully intriguing and otherworldly whimsical that it defied pigeonholing. Underpinned by all manner of eclectic beats from jazz and electronic to R&B and hip-hop, tracks like Gooey, Black Mambo, Pools and Hazey carried with them not only a keen sense of wide-eyed wonder but also a pocketful of risque playfulness -- something "fresh out of an icky, gooey womb", as Bayley sang. Zaba sent Glass Animals on a world tour and the stories of the people they encountered along the way inspired its follow-up, How To Be a Human Being.
A concept album of sorts, the record is built on the fictitious characters based on real-life anecdotes. Each track features its own protagonist with their own personalities (some even have websites). Take, for example, tribal percussion-driven opener Life Itself which tells the story of Chuck Rogers, a socially awkward, sci-fi nerd who lives with his parents and is the proud creator of raygun123.com. As Rogers, Bayley sings "I'm waking up, lost in boxes outside Tesco/Look like a bum sipping codeine Coca-Cola/Thought that I was northern Camden's own Flash Gordon/Sonic ray gun, gonna be a superstar."
Youth revolves around a mother who lost her child (like Rogers, she also has her own site: dizzyoncaffeine.com). "Fly, feel your mother at your side/Don't you know you got my eyes/I'll make you fly/You'll be happy all the time/I know you can make it right," goes the bittersweet chorus. Listen closely and you'll hear the sound of what could be a ranad (wooden Thai xylophone) and a synth made from a sample of an owl. Next up is Season 2 Episode 3, a languid number about a girl who spends most of her time getting stoned in front of the TV while eating mayonnaise from a jar. The retro video game sound effects here are a nice quirky touch.
Elsewhere, there's a story based on a tattoo (Pork Soda), a woman suffering schizophrenia (Mama's Gun), a coke addict (Cane Shuga) and a nympho who claims she's "so tasty and the price is right" (Take a Slice). Album standout Agnes concludes the set with chiming xylophone and cinematic soundscapes coupled with perhaps the most powerful chorus we've heard from the boys ("This time you overdid the liquor/This time you pulled the f...in' trigger/These days you're rolling all the time/So low so you keep getting high").
If Zaba was an innovative exploration of sounds, How To Be a Human Being takes the same idea and interlaces it with a series of vignettes that reflect the many facets of humanity. The album may be full of crazy beats and riveting narratives, but it's the staggering emphasis on human empathy that deserves a standing ovation.
THE PLAYLIST
My Life As Ali Thomas/ Cordelia
Of all the singles we've heard so far by homegrown indie-folk quartet My Life As Ali Thomas, their latest Cordelia comes the closest to the sonic stylings of folk-pop outfits like Of Monsters And Men and Crystal Castles. That's not to say that the song is inferior, though, because vocalist/guitarist Kanyapak "Pie" Wuttara is still very much on point lyrically and vocally. "I wear my best dress/Sun and moon dress/Skin my best dress/Heart my best dress," she sings in a tone that could be described as something between a whisper and a mumble.
Local Natives/ Coins
LA indie-rock quintet Local Natives get soulful on Coins, the latest number off their third studio album Sunlit Youth. The song opens with a shimmering guitar line before frontman Taylor Rice chimes in, posing a question: "Time stands still and then one day it's gone/Where did it go? Where did I go? Ooh, how much is enough? Ooh, how can you be sure of?" In the same vein as the singles Villainy and Past Lives before it, Coins touches upon a range of existential subjects from rebirth and the passing of time.
Michael Buble/ I Believe In You
Michael Buble can do no wrong at this point in the game. And by "game" we mean swooning the socks right off a legion of fans. Lifted from his forthcoming ninth studio album Nobody But Me, I Believe In You sees the Canadian singer-songwriter trading his signature swinging big-band sound for a simple, stripped-down acoustic guitar. "I believe in starting over/I can see that your heart is true/I believe in good things coming back to you," he croons alongside an all-too-familiar pop production, but surely winning over even more hearts in the process.
James Vincent McMorrow/ Get Low
Get Low is the follow-up to Rising Water, the lead single taken from Dublin singer-songwriter James Vincent McMorrow's third LP We Move. The track further highlights McMorrow's musical shift from melancholic folk to a sound that straddles soulful R&B and hip-hop indebted electronic beats (think Channel Orange-era Frank Ocean). "I love the way your heart had no rules/Loving what your heart becomes/Even when you smile, you're still cruel," his falsetto soars high over the cry of a funkified guitar.
Sleigh Bells/ It's Just Us Now
There's so much going on on Sleigh Bells' new track It's Just Us Now. The American noise-poppers give us their trademark thrashing guitar work and at the same time throw some '90s R&B melodies into the mix. The heady clash between glitch and groove may be jarring, but in a perverse way it makes the whole thing even more fascinating to hear. Due out this November, their fifth studio album Jessica Rabbit will also include the previously shared singles Rule Number One and Hyper Dark.
