Jamie Oborne, The 1975’s label boss and manager, has told Music Week he is “so proud” of the band for raising their game on A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships.
The 1975 can expect a big sales boost after winning the BRITs for Mastercard British Album Of The Year and British Group last night (February 20). The LP has sales to date of 97,568, according to the Official Charts Company.
Speaking in the latest issue of Music Week, the Dirty Hit/All On Red founder revealed the challenges involved in writing and recording their third record at Angelic Studios.
“The mood was up and down, the mood was one of living through these times – some days great, some days awful, some days average,” said Oborne, who was described as the band's "fifth member" in their BRITs acceptance speech. “The record took a year to make and every Friday I’d be with them in Oxford, then we went to LA for two months to finish it.
“They felt the weight of I Like It When You Sleep… and they wanted to better it. They always want to create their best expression and, so far, I can steadfastly say that they have done that. It was a difficult record to make but every 1975 record has been a difficult record to make. I’ve yet to make an easy 1975 record.”
Music Week revealed last week that the band have signed on for three more albums with Dirty Hit. They recently played sold-out arena shows, including two nights at The O2.
“I’m so proud of them,” said Oborne.
They felt the weight of I Like It When You Sleep… and they wanted to better it
Jamie Oborne
He noted that fans and critics had responded to the acclaimed album and Matthew Healy’s lyrics as a “document of the times”.
“They relate to Matthew’s struggles and observations about life, and I do as well,” he said. “I hear a lot of life in that record and it was a beautiful thing to watch a songwriter who I adore arriving at a very rich place. It was scary but ultimately he’s producing his best work.”
Love It If We Made It has already become a live favourite. The concert performance features harrowing news footage to match Healy’s lyrics borrowed from the media, including an infamous utterance by Donald Trump that was caught on tape before his presidency.
“It’s funny, I’ve heard Matthew talk about that song a lot in interviews and he always reflects back to people that media outlets want to censor that song," said Oborne. "But that song, all it contains is quotes that said media outlets have emblazoned across the front of their newspapers or stuck on TV broadcasts.
“He’s not actually expressing an opinion, he’s just reflecting about the world and that’s what the power is in that song - that’s a powerful song. It’s like Sign O’ The Times, we have a British band who have written this generation’s Sign O' The Times.”
The 1975 self-produced the album, with assistance from engineer Jonathan Gilmore.
“George Daniel, the drummer in The 1975, is an absolute sonic genius,” added Oborne. “We’ve worked with some of the greatest mixers in the world on this record, and all of them have been completely floored by his production. The kid is just a class act.”
The follow-up, Notes On A Conditional Form, is already set for a spring/summer release.
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