Compared to Zaba, their 2014 debut, Glass Animals’ sophomore release carries over the watery aesthetic that served as the centrepiece of their first record. This time around, however, the most striking difference is how much more intelligible lead singer Dave Bayley is.
Normally, making sure your lead singer’s voice is well-defined against the gelatinous background provided by equal parts synths and tribal percussion would be considered a good thing, but on How To Be A Human Being, the only thing that is highlighted by Bayley’s newfound vocal clarity is how seemingly obtuse the lyrical content of the record really is.
Despite the fact that we’re rhyming words without really bridging them with any kind of exposition or narrative (effectively just singing them because they sound alike), there’s not much being said on HTBAB, an album that makes a conscious effort to be more radio-ready than its predecessor, and as a result ends up sounding more like a collection of tracks that didn’t quite make it onto Zaba as opposed to showing any growth on the band’s part.
