“How to Be a Human Being” is the sophomore full length album from the British based indie rock band Glass Animals. This album has been released on the record label “Harvest Records”, and the band consists of the members Dave Bayley, Drew MacFarlane, Edmund Irwin-Singer, and Joe Seaward.

How to Be a Human Being sets an interesting tone that is a tad bit different in sound from their previous debut, “Zaba”, but has vastly changed in the sense of lyricism. In terms of sound, the band withholds their absolutely fascinating use of percussive instrumentation. There are sounds taken from Zaba but also some brand new sounds in songs such as “Youth” “Season 2 Episode 3”, and “Pork Soda”. The most interesting and arguably the most distinct feature of the band is their use of percussive instrumentation. They use of wide variety of instruments and even just plain sounds that come from nature to integrate into their songs, and with these elements they create a very psychedelic and even R&B influenced sort of sound. Even though there are less nature sounds in this LP than there were in Zaba, the band makes up for that with a completely different sound on this album, a more melodic sound instead of the exotic ones on Zaba.

In terms of tone the band changes from the exotic lyricism of Zaba to a darker vibe juxtaposed with the sweet melodic and rhythmic sounds the band is known for. It gives an odd feeling that underneath all of this sweet sound there is something more sinister and depressing sitting underneath. The album tends to get very philosophical, kind of taking ideas of existentialist and absurdist philosophers such as Albert Camus and Jean Paul Sartre. In How to Be a Human Being, the album touches up a lot on the human experience and how absurd it can be at times, thus its name. There are a lot of heart-wrenching and relatable songs such as Youth and Pork Soda, where the singer expresses his feelings of wanting to be young again and going back to days where things really didn’t matter which is sort of ironic because the band’s sound itself is known for being relaxing and just taking it easy. There are even darker themes of drug abuse and abusive relationships, such as in the songs “Cane Shuga” and “The Other Side of Paradise”. The band’s laid-back sound juxtaposes these dark lyrics, and it sort of points out that even though that these can be sad moments in a person’s life, overall when someone looks at the entire picture, it is absolutely absurd, and this absurdity is pointed out even more in the monologue “[Premade Sandwiches]”, where the singer sets up certain situations where people stand in line waiting for something that seems very much handed to them, like drugs or food, and none of them can seem to relax and they also don’t seem to even know why they are standing in line. The monologue seems to describe the darker side of modern society, that everything just seems so clockwork and nothing seems genuine anymore.

Overall, the album’s sound describes Glass Animal’s perfectly, with some experimentation here and there, and also has a very interesting tone that is very unique from their last album. On a scale of one to ten, I give it a 7.5/10.