Impostor syndrome is a feeling that Dave Bayley – songwriter and lead singer of self-produced Glass Animals felt when experiencing the sudden rise in popularity. Mainly thanks to the record-breaking 2020 hit ‘Heat Waves‘ – it is the longest song to remain on the Billboard Hot 100 ever – the Oxford-formed quartet went from being a hip-hop-tinged indie rock group with minimal airplay to being a Tik-Tok sensation. The fact that the peak of their success happened when the world was still under Covid restrictions made it seem even more illusory to the group.
Four years after ‘Dreamland’, Glass Animals’ follow-up I Love You So F***ing Much could initially be seen as their reaction to the unforeseen fame with track names such as ‘whatthehellishappening?‘, ‘Lost In The Ocean’ and ‘On The Run’ perhaps showing the imposter syndrome traits of denial and anxiety. That would have been a good, understandable and logical concept for the latest album to have. Unfortunately Glass Animals’ fourth album didn’t go down that route and instead the record is confusing mess both conceptually and musically, with a godawful album title that doesn’t help its quality output case either.
I Love You So F***ing Much has nods to cinema without fully exploring it a way that could have suggested that their group’s popularity status felt like a cinematic dream. The group have used the idea of entertainment as a distraction from life problems before and perhaps they could have played with the notion that they’d been sucked into the screen like a scene from Last Action Hero. The movie nods come from the classic film poster style on the album cover and its accompanying singles, the Stanley Kubrick references hinted by the song title ‘How I Learned To Love The Bomb’ and the line ‘“Don’t abort the mission, Dave, I made my decision’” on the good-to-exercise-to track ‘On The Run’. Furthermore the filmic theme is expressed in the motion picture tropes of “Go slow-motion, cut it to black” on the saccharine ‘Creatives In Heaven‘ and “So roll those credits, ’cause the sequel’s gonna hurt” on the arms-in-the-air worthy ‘Show Pony’. Yet this potentially strong metaphorical angle, is drowned out by tedious songs about the disappointing realities of love and random almost Coldplay-like angle on cosmic space. Space to mean something other than space is becoming a worn out subject and Glass Animals showcase this new fascination with the cosmological with the line “You blew me into star dust” from ‘Tear In Space (Airlock)’, “Probably in a galaxy not far from home” from the vibraslap-featuring ‘White Roses‘ and ‘Coat on the door like an old space suit” on the aforementioned ‘Creatures In Heaven’.
The album has some good moments that exhibit that Glass Animals’ still have a glimpse of the creativity that made How To Be A Human Being such a refreshing treat. ‘Wonderful Nothing‘ features a loop of an operatic singer accompanied by strings floating behind snappy hiphop beats that recall Jem’s 2004 Finally Woken, ‘On The Run’ is clever in the way it juxtaposes the barbershop doo-wop with woozy indie guitars before the pace on the track turns, appropriately for its lyrical content, into a running machine. ‘Lost In The Ocean’ also has 1950s flavour, recalling the style of The Penguins’ ‘Earth Angel’ among its otherwise modern production.
However those good moments are in few and far between and ultimately outweighed by indistinguishable trendy pop, an abundance of badly rhymed lyrics and Dave Bayley’s voice, once uniquely charming, drags along and increasingly and irritatingly is becoming like the most robotic side of Adam Levine. Bayley also tries to hit high notes that don’t suit him well. Best case in point of the bad meeting the good being the ironically titled“whatthehellishappening?”. Its interesting idea of being kidnapped and held inside the boot of a car as an allegory for losing relationship control is ruined by firstly the grammar of the title and then the exhausting overproduction with Bayley’s voice sounding like he is gasping for air after blowing up a large amount of balloons. Although it’s overwhelming sugariness fits its lyrics about happiness and is effective at providing a contrast to its abrupt ending.
Although I Love You So F***ing Much‘s haphazardness and pleasing-to-the-masses pop could purposely represent Dave Bayley and Co’s state of mind during their impostor syndrome, admittedly this might be a review angle that is clutching at straws.
