Glass Animals has a sound reminiscent of a psychedelic sink drip. Their debut album from two years ago, Zaba, bombarded listeners with visuals of large, deadly snakes against the backdrop of strange, oozing and dripping electronic sounds.
Their new album, How to Be a Human Being, makes up in narrative what it lacks occasionally in sound by illustrating stories of fictional characters that range from men who are consumed by lust to chronic cliff jumpers.
The Oxford, England,-based band relies on idiosyncratic lyrics and bizarre electronics. Singer/guitarist Dave Bayley and guitarist/keyboardist Drew MacFarlane released their debut EP, Leaflings, in 2012 and have been active since then. Their newest album came out this August.
Telling the story of unfashionable cynics, How to Be a Human Being is loaded with irony, once describing a man who seeks casual, passionate hookups as a “true romantic” and a bum who lives with his mother and plays video games all day as “fantastic.”
Hypnotic, the album constructs a sound reminiscent of Red Hot Chili Peppers’ The Getaway, but stranger. One would be hard pressed to find a Glass Animals song that is not outlandish. Straying from Zaba‘s images of jungles and black mambas, How to Be a Human Being feels rooted in the image of a man sitting on the floor in his underwear begging for pleasure.
The lyric that epitomizes the album, in the track “Take a Slice,” is simple: “I’m filthy and I love it.” The song builds into something that could put any listener into a trance, calling them to ask themselves: What could I become if I gave in? It romanticizes the idea of the “I’m gonna fuck my way through college” mindset.
The album seeks out the wild parts in everyone, no matter how recessive or dominant that part is. In an interview with Paste, Bayley explained the inspiration behind each of How to Be a Human Being’s 11 tracks.
“Each song on this record is a different story about a different made-up character,” he said.
There is a general atmosphere of longing throughout each song, perhaps for the courage or cowardice to give in to all desires and live life as a wreck. “Let’s climb the cliff edge and jump again,” and other lyrics explore stereotypes of today’s millennials.
At the same time, the album inadvertently and humorously rips apart aspects of American culture. In “[Premade Sandwiches]” a surreal, rapid voice explains in a low tone that people are standing in line “to buy whatever the McFuck they might.”
Ideal for night drives and all-nighters, this album is in homage to those who are slowly dismantled by living with only pleasure as a priority.
