The third LP from psychedelic pop foursome Glass Animals has captured the late-night-early-morning hedonistic feeling of being at a festival in the heat of summer. “Lemongrass eyelids / Smoke in your slick lips” is whispered on hazy single Hot Sugar.
The record is also a nostalgic memoir from frontman Dave Bayley, including the emotional memory of drummer Joe Seaward’s life-threatening bike accident in 2018. Seaward, not knowing whether he’d walk, talk or drum again, has built himself back up in the last two years, to produce the powerful, precise and dynamic beats that carry this album.
Opener Dreamland kickstarts the personal album: “It’s 2020 / So it’s time to change that / So you go make an album / And call it dreamland”. Standout songs come from Your Love (Déjà Vu), a chaotically exciting track about dysfunctional relationships with an early-Noughties pop tempo, and Tokyo Drifting, with rapper Denzel Curry, a heady tune with an infectious R&B beat.
Other songs blend seamlessly into each other, which is both an endearing and disappointing factor in an overall assured and intimate album.
