Grouplove’s latest release, “Big Mess” is like looking inside somebody’s brain. What makes it even cooler is that with each song you feel as if the brain they’re singing from and peeking into is your own.

When I think of Grouplove, I think of rolling my windows down on the sunniest summer day and blasting their fun sound. With this album being released at the end of summer, it initially disappointed and baffled me.

The end of summer is the perfect time to release this album. While keeping their unique and specific sound, Grouplove touches down to your sad days with songs such as “Hollywood,” “Enlighten Me” and “Heart of Mine.”

“Welcome to Your Life” opens up the album and will most definitely pry open your brain:  “Trying to keep saying I feel okay/Telling myself this now for days”

Somehow you want to stop listening to what Grouplove is telling you because of how deeply you connect to it, yet you can’t stop because of how intriguing their music is. There is a constant undertone of electronic music mixed with punky vocals and acoustic guitar.

The beginning half of the album reflects a sadder, growing portion of one’s life. Once you hit the middle of the album at “Cannonball,” it brings you back to classic happy Grouplove, and then returns to these “messy” songs with themes of hurt and tunes of joy.

Something that continues to amaze me about the band is how every song they produce sounds so different than the other, yet they all remain true to themselves. Grouplove is a true paradox of a band in every way.

Grouplove has proved with this album how confusing of a band they truly are.

Somehow they can remain positive, exciting and fun yet get you to self-reflect. “Big Mess” is the perfect name for this album. The listener is taken on a journey through one’s thoughts, their darker thoughts sprinkled with a feeling of determination and joy.
Together, it’s all jumbled, initially like a big mess, but Grouplove makes it work. The album proves how complex a sound and how complex a band they are.