These days, most people know the name Glass Animals from their 2020 hit single “Heat Waves.” And while there’s nothing wrong with the track—I’ll be the first to admit that it was one of my songs of the summer—there’s no denying that it radically altered the course of this indie group’s career. Back in the heyday of Dreamland’s release, the most that G.A. fans had to worry about was being associated with that DSMP fanfic. Flash forward four years to the release of their latest album, I Love You So F***ing Much, and uh oh: suddenly, there are consequences for the hot seat of fame.
As a ride or die fan since 2018, I smelled trouble from the release of the first single, “Creatures In Heaven.” It’s not that the song was bad, necessarily… but it recognizably strayed from the instrumentally rich sound that most Glass Animals music is known for. But at the time, I told myself I was being a hater. After all, Dreamland was a vast departure from the intensely emotional staccato of How To Be A Human Being, and I could still appreciate its silky new aesthetic. Everyone and their mother booed Twenty One Pilots for sidestepping their usual sound for Scaled & Icy, but being different didn’t automatically make it a bad album. In fact, no Glass Animals album is thoroughly similar to another—so what am I complaining about, anyway?
The second single drops. “A Tear in Space (Airlock)” is the most Ed Sheeran, pop-bait trash that I’ve willingly subjected myself to. And Dave means to tell me that this is one of the highlights of the album? This release is screwed. I tried not to fall into this doom mantra as I waited for the July 19th release date.
There are ten songs on this album, and I already know that two are “fine” at best. Despite this, ILYSFM opens strong with the tragic narrative of “Show Pony” and one of my personal favorites, “whatthehellishappening?” Then you get “Creatures In Heaven” before landing on the most Glass Animals song on the album, “Wonderful Nothing.” Between the hip hop influences and the modest audio layering, it resembles the punchier hits of Dreamland (i.e, “Tokyo Drifting,” their other major hit).
There’s redemption in the next two tracks, “I Can’t Make You Fall In Love Again” and “How I Learned To Love The Bomb.” Here, there are more traces of their classic themes and some Dreamland-esque instrumentals that feel familiar. But still, there’s something missing. What is it? At this point, there are only three songs left to go through. “White Roses” lends some energy to pick up from the previous track that gets completely lost by the lullaby-like melody of “On The Run,” a song that only picks up by the time it’s almost over. The frenetic pacing of the outro almost satisfies the itch that the song’s back-and-forth creates; this was especially true during their live performance, where the “on the run” repetition was sped up ad infinitum until the lead singer was gasping for air.
That leaves “Lost In The Ocean,” the album’s outro. It has that distinct high school slow dance kind of sound, mimicking the waves of the ocean. Despite its simple composition, it serves its duty to provide a satisfying conclusion to the album. Unlike other Glass Animals outros that tend to end with a crescendo of sound and emotion, the sadness of “Lost In The Ocean” is soft, understated.
Understated will be the key word when referring to I Love You So F***ing Much. Compared to previous albums, Glass Animals has never sounded so… empty. Where are the samples? Where are the narrative, non-lyrical tracks? Hell, give me the gratuitous reverb/autotune/distortion of Dreamland — GIVE ME THE BASS! GIVE ME MORE COMPELLING INSTRUMENTAL BREAKS! GIVE ME MORE THAN ONE TEXTURE PER SONG! Glass Animals had four years to cook, and they gave us the oatmeal of musical releases. Individually, the tracks are fine, just not very dynamic. Put them together, and the full picture is a beige smear.
At first, I couldn’t identify what the uncanny valley was that was causing this bore-fest phenomenon. Was it just the lack of samples, instruments? Partially. Was it a downgrade in the quality of lyrics? Not necessarily; G.A. lyrics have always been a bit abstract and outlandish, but that’s a virtue of the artist. No, it took my partner casually mentioning the monotony of pacing to realize that this was the Achilles’ heel of the album: there was simply no variety in the kind of sound produced.
The texture of “Wonderful Nothing” was a facsimile standing in place of the variegated bouquet that a Glass Animals album should be—for the texture it should contain! It was a tokenistic tribute to the band’s old sound, nothing more; if you play through every ILYSFM track quickly, each is framed by the same plodding BPM. The same cannot be said for ZABA, for How To Be A Human Being, or for Dreamland. While Glass Animals might have a generally slow sound, there’s always enough instrumental cues or enough of a shift in speed to distinguish the tracks in a significant way. The variation in ILYSFM is superficial in comparison. But what does this have to do with the success of “Heat Waves”?
On the surface, I assumed it was all about who Glass Animals was working for. Their first three albums before mainstream success were released under Wolf Tone Records; presumably, after garnering massive attention with the single, they released their latest under Polydor Records. Clearly, the interloper in the algorithm is this tyrannical new record label, right? Maybe not.
According to an interview that Dave Bayley held with Zach Sang in July 2024, ILYSFM was written and produced completely by the band. Dave described writing all the songs in LA while staying in a crumbling BNB, and that the process “felt a bit more natural.” Apparently, he even wrote 60 songs that fit within the album’s scope, narrowing it down to just the ten we see. Whoops.
Then what can the fans blame this radical simplification on? Is this just the new artistic direction of the band? Or a snapshot in their creative moment? Dave would claim the latter, and mentions how, “an album, in particular, is like… a portrait of what you can do at that period of time… You change as a person, and you keep changing as life goes on, so you would just keep changing the music as you learn and as you hopefully get better — or worse.” This view leaves room for the interpretation that this style is just a phase, and one that I hope they swiftly outgrow. Sorry, Dave. I’m glad the writing experience was easier, but I think you forgot to season this one.
In his interview with NPR, Bayley mentioned some of the challenges of writing an album themed around space: “…every time I tried… It came out very, like, space. The vacuum of space is cold. It is sterile.” He goes on to explain how writing a space-themed love album was the perfect way to counteract this sterility, and by infusing it with the human struggles of love, it became a more grounded piece. While I appreciate his creative vision, I reflect that this album suffers from that coldness that Dave himself noted. The “retrofuturistic soundscape,” as he calls it, may have been vital to the aesthetic of the album, but it could not prevent the final product from tasting a little like cardboard.
Each Glass Animals album goes heavy with its themes—so much so that each could be a concept album in its own right. How To Be A Human Being is a collection of laypeople’s stories, with each track representing a different character on the cover. There’s a fair amount of digital lore about these characters, and you can feel who each person is through their song. Dreamland is all about reminiscing, looking back on a life—and particularly a childhood innocence—that now feels far away. And for better or for worse, I Love You So F***ing Much is an album about all the facets of love through a space-age lens. Not every portrait can be the Mona Lisa.
In conclusion, I think this album simply departed too much from the roots that made this artist “home” for me. Did I still enjoy many of its songs? Like I said, I’ll crash out to “whatthehellishappening?” anytime. But for the same reasons that The Clique had beef over Scaled & Icy, I recognize that not every direction that a band takes will land with its fanbase. Was this an objectively bad album? I don’t know. To take a leaf out of Dave Bayley’s own book, I’d say that this is just the message that they had to offer at the given moment. I’m a little early, but happy one year anniversary to one of the albums ever, for sure. May Polydor Records not curse their next album, too.
More from Glass Animals
-
share this
