The 1975 - I Like It When You Sleep, For You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware Of It

THE 1975's frontman Matty Healy said that 'in 2016, everything has been done'.

He reckons all you can hope to do as a musician in the 21st century is to try and do it better and that his generation consumes and creates music by taking influences from all over the place.

That is true to a large extent but with mission statements like that you would expect the Wilmslow band's latest album to back it up with a melting pot of ideas.

But unfortunately – and with some exceptions – The 1975's 'difficult second album' is mostly just a tribute to 80s synth and lo-fi electronic music.

In going in that direction, the four-piece have effectively opted out of forging their own path and are simply following a fad to hark back to that one era.

Love Me and The Sound have that catchy, signature pop sound that have seen the band win over every station from Radio 1 to Radio X.

And there are many other enjoyable songs that play with that formula with the likes of UGH, The Ballad of Me and My Brain and Somebody Else standing out.

But some tracks like If I Believe You and A Change of Heart are like the musical equivalent of wallpaper – they just fade into the background.

Atmospheric track, Please Be Naked, sounds like the band channelling their inner Sigur Ros while Lostmyhead offers a welcome change of style.

The shoegaze track builds to a crescendo and features a bit of everything with strings and then big electronic beats towards the end.

But this is simply just a hint of what this bloated 17-track follow-up to their million-selling debut could have been.

DAVID MORGAN