A near-death experience certainly makes you scrutinise your life and in the case of Glass Animals frontman Dave Bayley, he has turned his experience into art. The singer was stranded on a cliff in a wooden house on stilts during one of California’s biggest storms in history and channelled his feelings of isolation and despair into the band’s ambitious fourth album.
Unsurprisingly human connection is at the heart of this record and the title of Glass Animals latest album reflects the power of this and the miracle of love in all its guises. Of course, isolation was not the band’s first rodeo being a prevalent theme throughout their pandemic record the critically-acclaimed ‘Dreamland’ which contained the track that took the four-piece to stratospheric levels of fame ‘Heat Waves’. Their 2022 hit single which unexpectedly spent six weeks at the top of Billboard’s Global 200 chart made Glass Animals the band of 2022 and the band became an international success.
Overwhelmed and struggling to make sense of his newfound global success, the frontman took to a stilt house in the LA hills and his experience really sets the tone for this concept album. There were realisations, revelations and it was the ideal time for the UK artist to let his mind go to places it may not have attained under usual circumstances.
Through adversity and his brush with mortality, Dave Bayley set about writing ‘I Love You So F***ing Much’ which is a love letter to the universe. He’d always loved the idea of writing a ‘space’ album, but wanted to fuse in elements of the joy of human connection, love and relationships to add a juxtaposition to the feelings of isolation and despair. Each of the ten songs are different depictions of love in its many forms; first love, heartbreak and more and sees the singer at his most personal and confessional to date.
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The vibe is different too, think spacey synths, expansive phaser guitars and orchestral swells which shape the album. Of course, there’s still the psychedelic alt-rock guitars and indie beats, but the overriding soundscape feels like the love child of Bowie and Beck and it’s a glittering and dramatic journey through space and time thanks to its rich instrumentation.
Taking influence from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to The Galaxy, the band asked their fans to pose questions such as ‘Where does heartache go’ which was the genesis of ‘A Tear In Space (Airlock)’ one of the lead singles from the album talks of the intensity of love and in particular when love is not enough. ‘I am your dog, I’m on your floor’ paints a vivid picture of how love can be destructive with its brooding other-worldly vibes.
‘Creatures in Heaven’ is emotive and encourages us to enjoy every single moment, in particular when it comes to first love and is intimate and simplistic in its approach. Album closer ‘Lost In the Ocean’ with its 50s doo-wop flourishes asks ‘How are you so loved and so lonesome’ and the complex questions continue with ‘Whatthehellishappening’, which is one of the most anthemic and exuberant tracks on the album, whereas ‘Show Pony’ is a rich cacophony of distorted guitars telling the story of love dying – ‘When’s it going to end? / Maybe when you’re dead?’.
The dark connotations continue with ‘Wonderful Nothing’ which as rockers Def Leppard would say when love and hate collide. Acerbic and candid, the juxtaposition of the orchestral strings elevates the lyrics with lines like ‘I’d say burn in hell/But they’d hate you too’.
Love is what makes us human and ‘I Love You So F***ing Much’ is a bold return from Glass Animals, at times it feels that the concept slightly overpowers the album, but overall it’s a confident and well-crafted album that feels like it could be front and centre of an eclectic sci-fi soundtrack from the eighties.
7/10
Words: Emma Harrison // @emmahwriter
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