I always felt that Zaba was the first record in its post-rock style to challenge Alt-J’s dominance in this ill-defined genre. On How to be a Human Being, Glass Animals surpass Alt-J to become, in my mind, one of the most inventive post-rock, alt-electronic groups out there.

How to Be a Human Being begs the question: How does one classify music like this? The pop structures, rock energy, and electronic sounds create a bizarre — but appealing — mix that seems eminently malleable and mineable for a new generation of musicians. How to Be a Human Being is a record of constant imagination.

Even people who don’t like Glass Animals couldn’t accuse them of being unoriginal. Every track on the record sounds different — compare “Pork Soda” to “Take a Slice”, for example. The band rarely, if ever, repeats themselves.

How to Be a Human Being has hints of everything from Justin Timberlake (“Season 2 Episode 3”) to blues rock (“Poplar St.”). It’s one of the most diverse records of the year. It’s a record that’s a result of touring, and all the new life experience that entails.

But at the same time as the band is rapidly — and aggressively — expanding their sound, they’re also doing something unexpected. How to Be a Human Being strips back the production slightly, dressing down the tracks compared to Zaba.

It’s a subtle effect, but it works nonetheless: despite Glass Animals’ continued experimentation, it never feels like they’re anything less than approachable.

To be clear: the production doesn’t sound bad, not even remotely. It’s still a well-made, well-executed record. But the production allows Glass Animals to make experimental, unusual music without ever sacrificing its listen-ability.

All that being said, it’s hard to discuss How to Be a Human Being right now. It’s the musical equivalent of The Empire Strikes Back: a sequel whose language is so different from what came before that it will take time to judge and understand it properly. I imagine we won’t fully understand the magnitude of this record until we can judge it within the full spectrum of Glass Animals’ complete discography.

That’s a good thing. The Empire Strikes Back was panned when it was released, but now many regard it as one of the best films ever made. Clearly, How to Be a Human Being is a tremendous record. It has the all the feelings of a masterpiece. But I don’t know if it’s a masterpiece yet. It’s too early to call it. (If it’s not a masterpiece, then it’s certainly evidence that Glass Animals is capable of making one.)

For the time being, How to Be a Human Being is an impeccable record. It demands your attention, and your repeated listening. And I can’t wait to talk about it a decade from now.

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For all of the talk you’ll hear in reviews about how Light Upon the Lake takes inspiration from the Byrds, the Beatles, and soul music (and every critic ever is saying it), it still feels wonderfully refreshing. I think it’s because guitar rock — and guitar pop even more so — feels like a dying culture.

Take the opening verse of Dave’s Song. There are a couple things immediately at work here. Most notably, I think, are the arpeggios picked throughout. Stolen straight from country music, who stole it from guitar pop (who stole it from jazz, for what it’s worth), this style is uncommon in most rock these days. It’s a level of complexity above what we’re used to. It sounds good though.

The second notable thing is singer Julian Ehrlich’s voice, which will be immediately familiar to Unknown Mortal Orchestra fans. Frankly, he’s perfectly suited for this material. His sad-sounding, dreamy falsetto works better for this material than it does on the recent work from Unknown Mortal Orchestra.

Almost every song follows this strategy: Light Upon the Lake, No Matter Where We Go, The Falls, and so on. Many of these songs are clearly inspired by the band’s favourite old-school 60’s guitar pop. A lot of bands have done this, but few do it as well as Whitney.

There are, of course, a lot of soul influences as well. This is clear from the band’s brass section. It’s most obvious in the album’s more upbeat tracks. But when it all comes together perfectly, it congeals into these brilliant moments that stick with you.

For my money, Polly is the clear standout track here: the guitar pop and the soul-inspired brass come together perfectly, and Erhlich sings “I know in the past you left me with no heart; How cheap were the nights you used to keep me warm?”. In that moment, you know you’ve heard something special. And who it sounds like is unimportant, because it moves past it.

What makes Whitney’s debut so great is, despite knowing as well as we do who and what they sound like, they move past that and make us feel something.

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In other words, Wild Belle is a breath of fresh air in what usually feels like a sea of mediocrity.

Their sophomore album is, by all accounts, not a slump in any way. It feels like an experiment: the duo’s style continues to morph from one song to the next, with one track feeling jazzy (like the opener Mississippi River) and the next taking clear inspiration from reggae (Losing You).

The album’s best tracks are the ones that are the most blatantly focused on the hook. There’s a lot of great moments here, and it’s easy to miss some: every track is peppered with great ideas. The more immediately memorable tracks include Cannonball, which has a great riff and sax line, Giving Up On Your (which feels as garage rock as this record ever could), and The One That Got Away, which feels like a tremendous slow burn (and a couple great verses).

Wild Belle is willing to flirt with slower, more melancholic tracks too. The best of those is It Was You (Baby Come Back to Me), which is a multi-layered track that impresses with both its styling and its composition. The chorus is particularly captivating.

Much of Wild Belle’s success is clearly owed to Natalie, who handles the vocals throughout most of the record. Her voluptuous vocal style is both attractive and unique, making her instantly recognizable despite the pop genre’s more familiar trappings.

But moving beyond vocals, Elliot’s musical additions are everything. The best tracks on Dreamland are filled with musical ambition that feels unparalleled in pop, and I suspect much of these ideas are the saxophonist’s contribution. Tracks like Throw Down Your Guns could have drowned in predictable mediocrity if it wasn’t for some surprising musical twists outside of the chorus; it’s these fascinating hooks that often separate Dreamland from the rest of the pack.

In short: Dreamland is one of the best albums of the year, a real treasure and a breath of fresh air in a genre that people don’t always associate with originality.

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