WARNING: Weirdly personal review incoming.
Glass Animal's debut album, Zaba, spoke to me in a way that very little other music ever has. I've listened to that CD thousands of times, it's been the soundtrack to my life for two years. With that in mind, How to Be a Human Being is a crushing disappointment for me, and I'll explain why as best I can.
Zaba, and all the music releasedWARNING: Weirdly personal review incoming.
Glass Animal's debut album, Zaba, spoke to me in a way that very little other music ever has. I've listened to that CD thousands of times, it's been the soundtrack to my life for two years. With that in mind, How to Be a Human Being is a crushing disappointment for me, and I'll explain why as best I can.
Zaba, and all the music released before it (and after for a bit, GA's Joey Badass collaboration was fantastic), was special because it really was unique. The "samey" problem seems to be recurring when people talk about Zaba, but I believe there's a difference between all the songs being the same and having a distinct sound. All the songs sound similar because that was just the style of Glass Animals, period. That's the way they sounded, and that sound was explored to no end across that album, which is amazing. They mined every last drop out of that well, and yet I still wanted MORE. It was atmospheric trip-hop at its VERY BEST.
I eagerly waited two years for Glass Animals' sophomore effort, HTBAHB, only to find that Glass Animals... doesn't sound like Glass Animals anymore. The sounds they had from the very beginning are fairly nonexistent this time around, replaced by a bombastic, indie/pop/hip-hop twist that buries all the subtlety that Zaba was absolutely drenched in. It's lighter, it's louder, it's happier, it's more mainstream. I **** hate that that word lands in my review of this album, but it feels appropriate. If you're into that, you'll probably like How to Be a Human Being. As a fan of Glass Animals' earlier works, I'm just not into that.
This album is billed as a concept album of sorts, with each song revolving around a character created from the ground up based around experiences that Dave and the band had on the road, with fans and random people. I think the key difference may lie somewhere in here; I listened to Glass Animals for Dave Bayley's thoughts, words and stories, not other people's thoughts, words and stories. All the lyrics this time around lack that fun, esoteric mystery that all GA lyrics used to hold. An example:
"Cocoa Hooves" - off Zaba, released possibly years earlier as an EARLY single from GA
Let's all go with bitter Grey
He turns his leather gripped cane,
Those times you clapped and called for, "Quiet."
They've come to hold you in the nights
He packs a fight, "un partu"
Japan make home-made perfume
Sip froth from soft, warm joe
It's no guide or down bake close
And now, lyrics from Life Itself, the first look that the public and the fans got at HTBAHB:
Daddy was dumb, said that I'd be something special
Brought me up tough but I was a gentle human
Said that he loved each of my two million freckles
When I grew up, was gonna be a superstar
I can't get a job so I live with my mom
I take her money but not quite enough
I sit in the car and I listen to static
She said I look fat but I look fantastic
You can see the difference right there. The lyrics from Life Itself are blunt, in-your-face. You understand exactly what's happening, who this person is, and why they're this way. There's no mystery, it feels like you're having someone or something explained to you second-hand. The emotions aren't felt by Dave, they're felt by the fake characters that have never felt anything, so they never feel truly genuine. HTBAHB feels so intensely like Glass Animals is trying to be something that they aren't. The lyrics "when I was a boy" or "when I was young" or some twist on those shows up in this album (not counting the times they're repeated within their respective songs) at least 4 times. The lack of creativity here is astounding.
Maybe they're happier as people now. Maybe Dave and the band used to be miserable, and getting hugely popular in the States changed that. If so, that's amazing, and I'm so happy for them. But whatever has happened these past two years has changed their music; the bass is less prevalent, the constantly slow, deliberate, real-sounding drumbeats have been replaced by whatever setting the drum machine landed on when they picked a random number, Dave's voice doesn't lead the songs as much, the hooks are truly less unique and creepy, the tone in general is drastically different than their previous works... I could go on for hours, I really could.
I know this shouldn't matter to me, personally. It shouldn't upset me that a band put out an album I don't care for. But this band meant so **** much to me, in my heart and my brain. They inspired me, and now it feels like after two years of radio-silence, they're turning their back on me. That sounds dramatic and stupid, but it really hurts for some reason. As a wrap-up, HTBAHB isn't all bad. I like Season 2 Episode 3 and Take A Slice, although not as much as anything on Zaba. Those two tracks carry that same classic GA swagger, with a bit of newly-found excess.
It sucks that GA probably won't ever see this. But **** guys, please come back to me. Please.… Expand
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