Glass Animals, “I Love You So F***ing Much.”

Riding on the high of their 2021 mega-hit “Heat Waves,” British pop band Glass Animals have big shoes to fill with their newest album. Can the group achieve another chart-topper while also satisfying their longtime fans, many whom generally prefer the band’s more alternative work of the 2010s? On I Love You So F***ing Much, the group fails to accomplish the latter, while the former remains in doubt. There’s nothing as impactful as “Heat Waves,” while their attempts at mainstream stardom cause them to abandon creativity, potentially isolating their original fans.

That’s not to take away from how rich the record’s instrumentation sounds. The production is fantastic. Opener “Show Pony” begins with a lush symphony of guitars—some electric, some distorted, some acoustic. When lead singer Dave Bayley starts singing, the atmosphere fades away for some barebones percussion, but the dark electronic feel returns in the large-scale chorus. It’s not interesting, but it’s pleasant enough. That’s how it goes with most of this album. Plus, the group members definitely have musical songwriting talent in them: a knack for catchy hooks and storytelling abilities that make each song relatable.

“Whatthehellishappening” plays with some fun rhythms and synth pads, building up to the exultant chorus. It’s a solid pop song and one of the best on the album, with a bright summer sound that matches the joyful themes of lyrics like, “I’m so happy/ This is just where I want to be.”

Still, this album doesn’t live up to its predecessor, 2020’s Dreamland.

“Creatures in Heaven” sounds just fine, but doesn’t do anything particularly interesting—other than when the word “apartment” is pronounced as “apartmunt,” drawn-out awkwardly to fit into the rhyming scheme. It’s a small example of one of the record’s issues at large: a lot of it sounds forced. The melody in the chorus of “Creatures in Heaven” is no exception. Neither is when Bayley sings “I’m a fucking delight” on ‘Wonderful Nothing,” coming across as unnatural and trying too hard. The song deserves some credit for trying to do something different than the rest of the generally repetitive tracklist, but the angsty vibe, bumpy synth line and trendy trap beat don’t work together well.

Even though it discusses a passionate, compulsive love, “A Tear in Space (Airlock)” is another futile attempt at a bubblegum hit. It’s as if the high-pitched verse vocals and the repetitive chorus hook are having a competition: which can be more annoying?

On “I Can’t Make You Fall in Love Again,” a more unique, fluctuating beat holds down the song’s structure. Bayley’s vocals are coated in a thick layer of reverb as he sings a shrill chorus that could pass for something by Maroon 5 from 2016. The stripped-back chorus on “How I Learned To Love The Bomb” sees the frontman singing in his lower register, a welcome break from the constant falsetto.

“White Roses in the red dirt/ You said ‘it’s so beautiful it hurts,’” Bayley sings on “White Roses.” His prose is solid enough to carry these tunes, and it often does feel heartfelt, if at times overly quirky. On closer “Lost in the Ocean,” for example, he sings “Put on a sitcom and stare at my toes.” It’s an expansive, synth-filled and dreamy track that’s one of the most pleasant to listen to here. “How are you so loved and so lonesome?” he asks, wrapping up the project’s continuous theme of an all-consuming love.

This project will likely do just fine on the radio and just fine on the charts. It can be an enjoyable listen, even. Some of the electronic production is rich and euphoric enough to play during summer drives. But no amount of reverb placed on Bayley’s falsetto or synths cruising behind catchy hooks can fill in for a lack of interesting or creative substance. Beneath its shiny veneer, I Love You So F***ing Much is hollow.