"Well, I know when you're around coz I know the sound of your heart."
There's something sweet and creepy about that line. Haha! It's like love, bordering on obsession and stalker tendencies.
Right off the bat, when I heard that synth-pop intro, along with the infectious line, "Well, I know when you're around coz I know the sound, I know the sound of your heart", I already knew that this would be my favorite song from the much-awaited second album of The 1975 entitled, “I Like It When You Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware of It”.
The 1975 definitely kept their word about "surprising" us fans in this album. I recall front man Matthew Healy saying something like every song in the album being so different from one another, that it would make you wonder if you are listening to just one album. Well, mission accomplished Matty! Well done, mate! From the '80s-sounding, "Love Me" to the much more relaxed, but still catchy, "Ugh!" and now the very disco, pop tune, "The Sound" - The 1975 never failed to amaze me with their musicality and ability to hit all the right spots with their music.
Once again, they premiered the song through Annie Mac's Radio 1 show, last January 14. In Matthew Healy's interview, during the radio show, he confessed about being a pop music lover when he was a kid. He mentioned that he "grew up on big records" - the kind with melodies that you can't get out of your head. So it was only natural for him and the band to be more on the "pop" side of the music world in this album. He added that he is confident about "The Sound" and all its "poppy" glory because, according to him, "It wears its pop on its sleeve and it's kind of unabashed."
Once again, Matthew Healy's ingenious and creative writing is manifested in The Sound's lyrics. This time around, though, I feel like he restrained himself a bit and strayed away from his usual double-entendres and poetic innuendos. It was much easier for me to sing along to this song, as compared to "Love Me" and "Ugh!". Especially since the hook was pretty much the same sentence repeated several times. I was able to memorize about 60% of the song after only listening to it for about 5 or 6 times.
The 1975's idiosyncratic and no-nonsense approach to music is quite impressive and admirable. Healy, who admitted in an interview that the popular social media phrase "squad goals" makes him die, explained their sophomore album as "expansive in terms of genre influence."
Unlike "Love Me" and "Ugh!", the band has yet to shoot a music video for the catchy pop tune. They did perform it on Saturday Night Live and it was everything that I was hoping for. From the time that I first heard this song, I've pictured Matty dancing and frolicking around, with his fluffy, curly hair bouncing, as he belts out this tune. And I was totally right! Matty was all over the stage while singing, shaking his booty here and there and, amusingly, rolling his eyes and making faces.
All I can say is, if this is an indication of how entertaining and intoxicating the album "I Like It When You Sleep, For You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware Of It", then I'm definitely in for the ride!
Credit: www.nme.com and www.rollingstone.com
