Musicians tend to sound like one another. It’s an unavoidable fact (as it’s simply the nature of music), and although it can get a bit discouraging at times, it’s not necessarily the end of the world. Every so often, though, a group will come along that has a distinct idea of a uniqueness as it pertains to sound, and, if they execute appropriately, said group can diverge into their own lane and have a major impact on the direction of music as a whole. Glass Animals seems to have such a fervent ingenuity in them, and ever since they caught our attention with “Black Mambo” a little over one year ago, they’ve been busy to work on their very own, unparalleled sound that we’ve grown to adore. After dropping off song after song and netting well over one million SoundCloud plays, the British four-piece has finally decided to unleash their animal of an album, ZABA, and it’s every bit as fantastic as we hoped it would be. Glass Animals’ sound is an eclectic one, presenting plenty of tropical percussion, hard-hitting hip-hop bass, shadowy vocals, electronic synth work, and obscure percussion. As you can tell, they’ve discovered a fairly untrodden sect within music, and they’ve totally thrived within it. “Flip” introduces their sound with its hazy listening atmosphere and tribal-sounding percussion, and the track gradually gains momentum until fully blossoming into an overwhelming sonic mass that is sure to send chills down your spine. Following are a few previously released tunes, but a little over halfway through the work, Glass Animals presents a song that possibly reigns as our favorite of the new releases on the album. “Hazey” embodies everything we love about Glass Animals’ style, opening up with their trademark heavy bass, fresh percussion, and haunting vocals. The song progresses with unique patterns of percussion, plenty of unusual noises, a bell melody, and an Eastern-sounding string instrument that altogether forms another remarkable offering from the album. Next up is “Toes”, a song that clearly displays the group’s irrefutable swagger with its slow tempo and stripped-down approach. A deep bass line, sparse percussion, guitar bursts, and slight nuances form an ideal platform for the vocalist to smoothly cruise atop. Fast-forward, and we have “Cocoa Hooves”, which, quietly released over two years ago on their EP, Leaflings, sees its rerelease on ZABA, and will hopefully gain the song the relevance it deserves. The track is actually fairly unique from the rest of the album, and this is because of the soporific, guitar-infused introductory segment which then suddenly cuts into a chaotic moment of insanity, ultimately calming down once again. It’s really as hypnotizing an affair as it sounds, and if listened to intently, it resembles somewhat of a mental journey, much like the album in its entirety. All in all, it appears that ZABA has successfully established Glass Animals at the forefront of a new sound, and we’re not sure if many will be able to closely replicate their style, though, it’s not a problem if that’s the case. Glass Animals has put quality at the top of their priority list (with creativity right behind), and this recipe for greatness has produced one of the most intriguing albums we’ve heard this year. Waste no time in scanning our favorites below, streaming ZABA in all on the band’s webpage, and pre-ordering the album on iTunes.
Glass Animals