My Top 100 Albums: #96 - Glass Animals, ‘How To Be A Human Being’

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96.

Glass Animals, ‘How to be a Human Being’

Wolf Tone, 2016

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A concept album of sorts, How to be a Human Being is more a series of vignettes than a singular story told in eleven parts. Its eleven protagonists, depicted in the album art, range from a young woman who smokes weed and eats mayonnaise from a jar on the couch while binge-watching TV series, to a spurned lover, to a drug addict, to an elderly person reflecting on past mistakes. This album, then, proves a sort of pessimistic dissection of modern society, but played over Glass Animals’ now typical electronic dance-pop sound - comprising chirpy guitars and addictive Afrobeat drum rhythms. This record represents one of the more listenable, and perhaps forgettable, entries on this list, though I don’t necessarily use that in a pejorative sense. Glass Animals’ sound is deeply ephemeral and lends itself quite naturally to a sort of after party malaise type of feeling. Perhaps this is why their hits, such as Life Itself, Season 2 Episode 3, and Pork Soda have been remixed and reworked so often, not least by the band themselves - the propensity of the band to rely on repetitive but irresistible hooks and compelling African rhythms makes their music malleable and somehow timeless, and this album presents their best work in this regard.

Hidden Highlight: Mama’s Gun

1. Life Itself

2. Youth

3. Season 2 Episode 3

4. Pork Soda

5. Mama’s Gun

6. Cane Shuga

7. [Premade Sandwiches]

8. The Other Side of Paradise

9. Take a Slice

10. Poplar St

11. Agnes

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See the full list so far here:

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