Formed in Wilmslow, Cheshire, the band brings together Matty Healy on vocals and guitar, Adam Hann on guitar, Ross MacDonald on bass and George Daniel on drums and production. Their history of playing together reaches back to their school years, and that familiarity helps hold their changing sound together. Even when they move between musical styles, there is a recognisable relationship between the rhythm, the instrumental detail and Healy’s conversational delivery.

Their self-titled debut album introduced a particularly distinctive combination of sharp guitar lines, spacious production and pop hooks. “Chocolate” has an almost skipping rhythm, with tightly arranged guitars supporting a vocal that tumbles through its phrases. “Sex” brings a rougher urgency, while “Robbers” stretches into something romantic and cinematic. Together, those songs established a band interested in both the immediate pleasure of a chorus and the atmosphere surrounding it.

Healy’s voice plays an important part in that balance. He can sound casual, as though he is halfway through a conversation, before suddenly becoming earnest or agitated. His phrasing often gives the impression of thoughts arriving faster than he can organise them. That delivery suits writing filled with observations, contradictions and awkward admissions. The characters in these songs can be self-aware without knowing how to change, or desperate for connection while making it difficult for anyone to get close.

Musically, The 1975 draw from a wide range of influences. The polished surfaces of 1980s pop sit alongside funk rhythms, electronic experiments, acoustic passages and bursts of guitar rock. George Daniel’s production helps give these different approaches a shared attention to texture and space. A bass line might provide the main hook, a keyboard part might quietly change the mood, or a brief instrumental passage might interrupt an album’s momentum and invite closer listening.

Their second album, I Like It When You Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful yet So Unaware of It, expanded that range. “Love Me” pairs an elastic groove with a sharp interest in celebrity and appearance, while “Somebody Else” places heartbreak inside a cool electronic setting. The latter captures the uncomfortable gap between accepting that a relationship has ended and being able to bear the thought of the other person moving on. Its restraint gives the emotion room to linger.

On A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships, the band explored how technology shapes intimacy, identity and public conversation. “Love It If We Made It” delivers its observations with mounting intensity, while “It’s Not Living (If It’s Not with You)” places troubling subject matter inside an inviting pop arrangement. That tension asks something of the listener: a song can feel uplifting before its words reveal why the feeling is more complicated.

Their catalogue also includes moments of striking simplicity. “Be My Mistake” leaves much of the surrounding production behind, allowing an exposed vocal and acoustic guitar to carry its unease. Later, Being Funny in a Foreign Language brings a more concentrated approach to the band’s songwriting, with tracks such as “About You” and “Oh Caroline” giving longing different musical shapes. Their quieter work shows how much of their appeal begins with melody and phrasing.

The 1975 are especially compelling when their songs allow several feelings to remain unresolved. Romance can be selfish, humour can conceal discomfort, and a crowded room can still feel lonely. They give those contradictions rhythm, colour and choruses that invite people to join in. Beneath the changing production and knowing references, their music keeps returning to a recognisable desire: to be understood, even when you struggle to explain yourself.