Glass Animals' fourth record sees the band take another step forward

With Dreamland's platinum record-selling success accruing plaudits via Billboard-topping hit “Heat Waves,” from an album preceded by drummer Joe Seaward's near-fatal road accident, the Oxford-hailing outfit’s rising stateside fortunes have coincided with more fluidity of style and confessional openness. I Love You So F***ing Much roots itself in the formative stream of consciousness lyrics that underpinned their third outing, frontman Dave Bayley's transatlantic upbringing increasingly prominent in shaping the cultural mindset of recent releases. An album that meanders between science fiction nods and throwaway pop-culture lines, this is a fourth outing very much trending alongside a cleaner divergence from the hazy trip-hop of their breakthrough record.

“Creatures in Heaven” epitomises the existential reflection that surrounds the latest release, born out of Bayley retreating to a clifftop property in California, embattled by one of the state’s most devastating storms and confronted with innermost contentions with identity as an artist amidst the accolades. It’s a track that epitomises the more transparent lens that has filtered the band’s previous few releases, the gauzy hip-hop leaning neo-psychedelia of the first two records surrendering to a looser sonic playfulness, a sugar-coated layer that at times masks the fraught personal energy.

Alphaville-esque synth chimes frame “A Tear in Space (Airlock),” bringing infectious 80s electro-pop elements to the record’s rolling, haphazard nature; “ICMYFILA” fizzes with the band’s formidable ability to drop between genres and decades – striking the balance between addictive confections and a cynical underside. This extends to the Kubrick-namechecking “How I Learned to Love the Bomb,” lined with a disconcerting energy, while “On the Run” stitches heavier space-rock pangs with straight-up pop overtones, tripping through Douglas Adams quips in clever side smarts.

I Love You So F***ing Much sees Glass Animals navigate a tricky tightrope between the ascendancy of their last album and a self-knowing tricksiness that accompanied other works – taunting energy that belies ten tracks showcasing the band at their most introspective.