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Notorious stoners and joyous hippies Grouplove may have ironically had the most productive pandemic out of anyone in the game, releasing 2021’s This Is This just in time for the axing of COVID restrictions (at least in the UK). This year, the band are continuing the good vibes that spilled from This Is This and 2020’s Healer, with an album planned for release (and review by yours truly) this summer. Grouplove’s new songs Hello and All (stylised upon release as Hello, All!) are bubbling with optimism, care and as the band’s name would suggest, love. Hello puts the listener in a position all too familiar to many of us, alone, nowhere to go, no one to help and overall aimless, not knowing where you’ll progress to, if at all. Grouplove’s instrumentals are uplifting even in that seemingly bleak scenario, and carry the lyrics’ optimism with a great stride in every verse and chorus. It is a song about carrying on, because someone will always be there for you. However, as charming and happy-go-lucky as the song may be, it doesn’t bring anything sensational to the table in the way of production and sound. By no means a bad song, but maybe not the one Grouplove should be wagering the success and reception of their project on.
[Grouplove donned the 5-man suit to solidify their bond as a band in the music video for Hello; via GROUPLOVE on YouTube]
All is very different to Hello in terms of production, the completely different style of instrumentals leaving me wondering what the overall sound of the album will be. However, this difference was All’s greatest strength, with entrancing piano and synth riffs next to steady drums creating a hopeful yet longing aura alongside Hannah and Christian’s vocals. This is all of course, before
the drop into Grouplove’s signature, harder and heavier rock style for the second half of the song. All is definitely the song to get fans most excited for the album. However, before I Want It All Right Now starts blasting through headphones this summer, if any listeners are new to Grouplove, we’ve prepared a listening guide through their discography for anyone who wants to know the band better. Starting naturally, at the beginning. Grouplove’s first LP, Never Trust a Happy Song, is probably their best known due to it featuring longtime indie classic Tongue Tied, which you have likely already heard, even if you don’t know it. Alongside the band’s most popular song are tracks like Colours and Naked Kids, the sounds of which Hello mirrors. Album number 1 is by no means a masterpiece, but it establishes who Grouplove are, what they’re here for, and ultimately launched them into success. To ease you into what Grouplove have been putting out more recently, we recommend then listening to Big Mess from 2017. Released after the birth of Hannah and Christian’s child, the album is a homage to new life and the uncertainty it brings, and in this critic’s opinion, the best the band has to offer, with astonishing tracks top to bottom. Afterwards, if my word is to be believed and the band have captured your heart, continue listening to their more recent, more hard-style releases with This Is This. Personal favourite tracks from this LP include Deadline, This Is The End (ironically not placed at the end of the album) and Seagulls. This album may give you auditory whiplash with its changes in pace and tone, but it is definitely a worthwhile listen, at least to understand where the band are now, and where this next album is coming from.
[Myself and my vinyl copy of This Is This]
To round out the discography, listen to Spreading Rumours (2014) and Healer (2020) in whichever order you please. Both albums are heavy hitters but with very different tones and themes to one another. The LPs last in this listening order are also the ones that showcase the range Grouplove has the most effectively. Of course feel free to listen to their EPs as well, should you have fallen in love with the band the way you should have at that point.
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