Album Review: ‘I Love You So F***ing Much’ by Glass Animals

The album opens with ‘Show Pony’, which the band premiered live in Jakarta halfway through May. As stated by Bayley himself, it serves as a “table of contents for the album” and outlines the different types and sides of love that will feature throughout the rest of the tracklist. The track opens with the sounds of synths, the strumming of a guitar and faraway vocals singing about a “show pony” – a person who constantly feels the need to be the centre of attention, even at the cost of others. The track tells the story of this ‘show pony’ and his wife, starting off with the beginning of their relationship and the marriage that quickly followed in the first verse. After the pre-chorus, chorus, and groovy instrumental break, Bayley continues in the second verse by singing about how the husband ruined his relationship by cheating on his wife. This is hinted at by stating how the wife is “waiting by the phone, lipstick on the coat” that is not hers. In the song’s bridge, the listener gets to hear about the couple’s relationship troubles through the eyes of their child, who they try and fail to hide it all from. Glass Animals used this same perspective in the Dreamland track ‘Domestic Bliss’, and even used similar lyrics to “there was nothing left of you, but he squeezed”. Relationship trouble and even domestic abuse are common themes in the band’s discography. 

Track two on the album, ‘whatthehellishappening?’ is (even) more violent and dark in nature. In this song, Bayley sings about literally being kidnapped – thrown into the back of a “1999 Corolla” – and enjoying the feeling of being able to relinquish control rather than being scared. It talks about the shock of liking this particular feeling of submitting to someone else. The track opens directly with its first verse, backed up by intense drums and guitars. Especially the track’s chorus is very upbeat, with Bayley repeating the line “I’m so happy, this is just where I wanna be” to a funky backing track. In the second verse, the singer even states that the narrator could have found a way to escape – “locked eyes with the kid in the car behind us” – but does not want to be rescued, and so “put a finger to my lips and I smiled and I pull it shut”. Something that should be terrifying has become something exhilarating for the narrator, who in the bridge states that it  “somehow feels safer here than I would do at home”. After the track’s final chorus, the outro ends abruptly with the sound of the car trunk closing – stopping the narrator from talking any more. 

While Glass Animals’, and specifically Bayley’s – as he writes all the lyrics – way of storytelling is immensely enticing, the rest of the album’s songs are a bit more realistic than ‘whatthehellishappening?’. Track 3, ‘Creatures in Heaven’, for example, looks back at a past relationship as something that was once beautiful, even if it is over now. It was released as the album’s first single and was teased by letters that Bayley sent to fans. The track speaks about being haunted by memories of a lover come and gone, specifically at 3 am when one cannot sleep. As another synth-based indie pop song that makes references to space, it fits right in with the album’s aesthetic. 

Next is the track that arguably stands out the most on this album – ‘Wonderful Nothing’. The band described this one as being about “love versus hate” and talking about whether to blame a toxic partner for causing harm or blaming ourselves for letting them do so. The song opens with an orchestral sound featuring string instruments and operatic vocalizing that continue well into the first verse. From the perspective of the perpetrator – the toxic partner – Bayley sings that “I think I’m the devil in disguise”; the ‘victim’ is looking for someone nice and kind, while the narrator has more sinister motifs. The song then moves into an instrumental break that starts quiet, yet builds up quickly to an intense synth and drum-array that makes one nervous, anticipating the violence that is to come. The chorus shows the narrator manipulating the victim, continuing this in the post-chorus – “You’re dressed up like a tiger, but you’re a fly stuck in my eye”, letting the victim know they are not as tough as they think – as well as in the second and third verse. At this point, the operatic vocals have disappeared – there is no room for beauty amongst the violence – but it does come back for the more toned-down final instrumental break and bridge. The song’s structure is very unconventional, as it ends with a fourth verse of continuous verbal attacks. Finally, distorted vocals state how “I’m tryna stop, but I still love you” – despite all the harm, the couple still stays together, even though this love really can’t be called love. 

The fifth track on the record is its second and final single, ‘A Tear in Space (Airlock)’. It opens with epic drums and a retro film sound before an actual synth beat joins the party. In the first verse, Bayley sings that “maybe you just like the control, like it all cold”, insinuating how the narrator is submitting to their partner. Bayley has stated before how the track is about a love that forces one to bend themselves around the other person. In the pre-chorus, the choice of sound makes the listener feel like they’re actually in a spaceship, where they’re crying in the chorus – which is literally described as “water, running down my face” and “a tear in space”. The latter implies both a void in the ‘spaceship’, something destroying this safe space, as well as the narrator literally crying. The second verse goes deeper into the idea of changing oneself for another, with Bayley singing “stretch me like leather rope” and “shape me into your form”. He implies that the narrator is changing themselves to the other’s desires even though it might break them. Despite the sad nature of these lyrics, the song sounds immensely fun – one can’t help but want to dance while this is on. The track ends in a similar nature to its intro, like the ending to an epic film. 

In ‘I Can’t Make You Fall in Love’, the album revisits the same husband figure who was featured in ‘Show Pony’. The track opens with synths that are quickly joined by a guitar and drums. The instrumental intro takes about forty seconds before the song delves into the first verse. In this song, the narrator wonders if the relationship could have played out differently. In the chorus, Bayley explicitly asks “what would we have been like?” to the sounds of the drums and synths. However, in the second verse, the narrator seems to be able to find closure in how the relationship ended and accepts how one cannot influence other people’s feelings. Singing how “I can’t take away your bitterness” and “I can’t give you back your tenderness” – the narrator shows what started off as something sweet has soured and can not be repaired. Three-quarters into the song, the listener is treated to one of the best instrumental breaks on the entire album, a funky little tune that shows off the band’s musical talent. Finally, the song ends with a softer outro where Bayley sings how “the light that afternoon exposed the cracks in you”. These same ‘cracks’ were mentioned earlier in ‘Creatures in Heaven’. Another lyric, “there’s lipstick on your throat” clearly references back to the infidelity also mentioned in ‘Show Pony’. It’s lovely to be able to make these connections, tying the album together as a beautiful package.  

What makes the album even more conceptually interesting is how track 8, ‘White Roses’, is a companion to ‘I Can’t Make You Fall in Love’. Whereas the latter is about being unable to change others’ feelings, ‘White Roses’ talks about being unable to change your own feelings and thus not being able to fall in love with someone. Even though one wants to give back everything they have received from the other, it’s just not always possible. The song opens with high-pitched synths and faraway vocals before it moves into the first chorus, backed up by another cool beat. The first verse starts off with the lyric “Long ago, probably in a galaxy not far from home” which is an explicit reference to the opening credits of Star Wars – followed by “I bet there’s a version where we’re happier”, referencing the idea of a multiverse. However, even in this suggested other universe, the couple can’t love each other without finding comfort in violence – which has been mentioned before in songs like ‘whatthehellishappening?’. The narrator, in this case, is the person who cannot reciprocate the love they receive. In the pre-chorus, they mention how they are like “old Lego” and “Play-doh”, giving the song a sense of nostalgia and continuing the theme of moulding oneself into different shapes. After another rendition of the chorus, the song moves into the post-break-up second verse where the narrator ensures the other person that they’ll be able to move on from the relationship. What stands out more, however, in this track is the bridge that features high-pitched vocals of which one can only wonder how they would sound live. The track ends with an instrumental outro of drums and synths. 

In between this pair of songs, one can find the track ‘How I Learned to Love the Bomb’. Probably named after the 1964 film ‘Dr Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb’, the song talks about a relationship where one’s significant other has two sides to them. The song sounds the most ‘authentic’ out of all as it makes use of more drums and guitar and fewer synths than the rest of the album. The instrumentals, including the organ-like sounds, help capture the darkness within this particular track. In the first verse, Bayley sings how “I always thought it was just the two of us, but I saw another one” – not literally another person, but another side of the narrator’s loved one and their ‘split’ personality. He continues to compare this to a “thunderstruck tree trunk”, the “splits in your knuckles” and “the split lip” alluding to a lot of violence within this relationship. Despite this, and despite the narrator questioning “which one is you? Is anything true?” in the pre-chorus, the narrator keeps making up excuses and trying to see the positives in this situation throughout the song. Especially in the bridge, which instrumentally tones it down a lot compared to the rest of the song, the narrator states that “maybe I can learn to like all that I find terrifying”. 

The second to last track on the album is ‘On the Run’ which tells the listener the story of a person who (attempts to) fake(s) their death as a way to flee from relationship troubles. The song starts off quite silly, with an organ playing and the vocalist making nonsensical noises before the first verse starts. The song is another drum- and synth-based one that follows a standard structure of verse, pre-chorus and chorus. In the pre-chorus, Bayley sings “thanks for all the fish” – a reference to the book “So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish” by Douglas Adams that can be added to the list of space-themed references. Moving on to the chorus, it is just a constant repetition and harmonization of the words “on the run” set to a groovy beat. In the second verse, Bayley makes it seem like the narrator in this track is specifically talking to the singer himself in the lyric “Dave, I made my decision, and you’ll feel better if you think I sleep with the fishes” – it is better for him to think his partner is dead. However, in the bridge it becomes clear that his partner never actually did this, as he sings “I’m back before you know I escaped”. The final minute of the song is filled entirely with the chorus, with bells chiming in the background before it all ends with the same nonsensical gibberish that it began with. 

Finally, the album ends with ‘Lost in the Ocean’ – a track that massively stands out as it’s a lot slower, almost ballad-like, compared to the other nine. The spaceship that the listener has been on this entire time has come down in the ocean, which, according to Bayley himself, signifies how everything will be alright. It is meant as a positive note, a light at the end of the tunnel. It opens with soft guitar strumming and Bayley’s raspy vocals singing about coming home to enjoy the comfort of being by yourself. However, being alone also opens one up to overthinking one’s insecurities and feelings of loneliness as mentioned in the pre-chorus and chorus. This is why people need each other, to be there for one another when one gets “lost in the ocean”. It’s an immensely cute song that includes sounds of twinkles and whistles throughout, making it feel like a warm hug, a coming home of sorts. It’s an amazing way to close off this album.

I Love You So F***ing Much is an album that is put together extremely well, both conceptually and aesthetically. The space imagination, the synth beats and the storytelling make for a project that is interesting and unique and complements Glass Animals’ repertoire beautifully. At the end of this year, the band will be touring the album on their ‘Tour of Earth’ across North America and Europe.