Dave Bayley spent most of the Zaba tour secretly recording people. He wasn't being a creep, at least not in the traditional sense, but he was obsessed. He would sit in taxis, backstage rooms, or dive bars and just listen to strangers talk about their lives. These weren't just casual chats about the weather or the local sports team. People told him things they probably shouldn't have—stories of heartbreak, weird sexual encounters, deep-seated regrets, and the kind of mundane tragedies that usually go unnoticed. When it came time to write Glass Animals How to Be a Human Being, those voice memos became the DNA of the record.
The album isn't just a collection of catchy psych-pop tunes. It’s a character study.
Honestly, it’s rare to see a band pivot so hard and nail the landing. Their debut was all about tropical, swampy metaphors and abstract imagery. It was cool, but it felt distant. This 2016 follow-up? It was grounded. It was messy. It felt like walking through a crowded apartment complex and peeking through the mail slots. Each track represents a specific person, often inspired by those real-life recordings, and the result is a sonic patchwork quilt that feels more "human" than almost anything else released in the last ten years.
The Art of Character Building in Glass Animals How to Be a Human Being
Most bands write about themselves. It’s the safe bet. But for this project, Bayley decided to inhabit other people’s skin. You can see it right on the album cover. Those aren't models; they are the actual "characters" from the songs. There’s the kid obsessed with video games on "Life Itself," the distraught woman in "Youth," and the guy who just wants to eat mayo out of a jar in "Season 2 Episode 3."
It’s genius, really.
Take "Life Itself." It’s the opening track and sets the stage with this driving, slightly anxious beat. The lyrics describe a guy who’s a bit of a basement dweller, living with his mom, feeling like a failure. But instead of mocking him, the music gives him this cinematic, tribal energy. It’s empathetic. That’s the secret sauce of Glass Animals How to Be a Human Being. Even when the characters are doing questionable stuff, the music refuses to judge them.
The production reflects the personality of each individual. On "Season 2 Episode 3," the band used 8-bit synths and sounds reminiscent of Super Mario to evoke the lethargy of someone who spends their entire life on the couch. It’s lazy. It’s pixelated. It sounds exactly like what it’s describing. Then you flip to "Mama’s Gun," which samples Mr. Fingers’ "Can You Feel It," and suddenly you’re in a much darker, more hallucinogenic headspace. The shift is jarring but intentional.
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Why the "Agnes" Ending Hits So Hard
If you want to talk about this album, you have to talk about "Agnes." Dave Bayley has gone on record saying it’s the hardest song he’s ever had to write, and honestly, you can hear it in his voice. It’s the final track, the one that breaks the character-study format because it’s actually personal. It deals with a friend’s struggle with addiction and eventual suicide.
It’s devastating.
Most pop albums end on a high note or a grand, sweeping ballad. "Agnes" is different. It’s upbeat in a sick, dizzying way, mimicking the feeling of being high while the lyrics describe the absolute low of watching someone fade away. It’s the moment where the "How to Be a Human Being" experiment hits a wall. You can observe people, you can record their stories, and you can try to understand them, but sometimes you just can’t save them.
The silence after that song ends is one of the most profound moments in modern music. It forces you to sit with the weight of everything you just heard.
Sound Design as Storytelling
The band didn't just use standard instruments. They went full foley artist. To make the world of Glass Animals How to Be a Human Being feel lived-in, they incorporated "found sounds" into almost every track. You’ll hear the clinking of glasses, the hum of a television, footsteps, and rustling. It’s a technique used in film to create a sense of place, and it works perfectly here.
- Pork Soda: This track is famous for the line "Pineapples are in my head," which became a meme and a staple of their live shows. But listen to the percussion. It’s crunchy and organic.
- Cane Shuga: This song uses chopped-up vocals that sound like a glitching brain, mirroring the frantic, cocaine-fueled ego of the narrator.
- Youth: The drums here are crisp and nostalgic, capturing that bittersweet feeling of a parent looking back on a child’s life.
They managed to make a "concept album" that doesn't feel like a chore to listen to. Usually, when a band says they have a concept, you expect 10-minute prog-rock solos and a dense libretto. Glass Animals did it with three-minute pop songs that you could play at a house party. That’s a difficult needle to thread.
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The Visual Language of the Era
The commitment to the bit was incredible. They didn't just stop at the music. They built websites for the characters. They made a point-and-click adventure game for "Season 2 Episode 3." They created a whole aesthetic that felt like a 1990s thrift store exploded into a neon-lit future.
When you look back at Glass Animals How to Be a Human Being, you have to appreciate the world-building. It wasn't just an album cycle; it was an alternate reality. The music videos, directed largely by Neil Krug and others, looked like high-end indie films. They weren't just performance clips of the band looking "cool" in a warehouse. They were narratives that expanded on the lyrics.
The Legacy of the Record in 2026
It’s been a decade since this album dropped, and it hasn't aged a day. If anything, it’s more relevant now. In an era where we are constantly consuming snippets of people's lives through TikTok and Instagram, the idea of "becoming a human being" by actually listening to them feels radical.
The album also served as the bridge to their massive global success with Dreamland. Without the character work they did here, we probably wouldn't have gotten "Heat Waves." They learned how to write hooks that stick in your brain like glue, but they never lost that weird, experimental edge that makes them Glass Animals.
People often argue about which album is their best. Zaba has the vibes. Dreamland has the hits. But Glass Animals How to Be a Human Being has the heart. It’s the most sophisticated thing they’ve ever done because it dares to be ugly and vulnerable. It admits that being a person is often confusing, gross, and lonely, but also deeply beautiful in its own chaotic way.
Common Misconceptions About the Album
A lot of people think the album is a mockumentary or a joke because of tracks like "Pork Soda." That’s a mistake. While there is definitely a sense of humor—Bayley has a very British, dry wit—the album is fundamentally sincere.
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Another misconception is that the characters are entirely fictional. While they are "characters" in the sense that they are dramatized for the songs, almost every line can be traced back to something someone actually said to the band. When you hear a weirdly specific detail, like the person who "ate mayonnaise from a jar while she's getting blazed," that’s not a random lyric. That’s a real person.
This grounding in reality is why the songs resonate. We’ve all met these people. Maybe we are these people.
How to Listen Properly
If you’re revisiting the album or hearing it for the first time, don't just put it on as background noise while you’re doing dishes. It deserves more.
- Use Headphones: The binaural elements and the panning of the found sounds are lost on cheap phone speakers. You need to hear the space between the notes.
- Read the Lyrics: Keep a tab open. The wordplay is dense. There are references to everything from The Breakfast Club to old soul records.
- Watch the Videos: The music videos are essential companions. They provide the visual "face" to the voices you’re hearing.
- Listen in Order: This isn't a "shuffle" album. The flow from the high-energy start to the devastating quiet of the finish is a deliberate emotional arc.
The genius of Glass Animals How to Be a Human Being lies in its ability to make the specific feel universal. By zooming in on the tiny, strange details of a few individuals, the band managed to capture the essence of what it means to exist in the modern world. It’s a masterpiece of empathy, disguised as a collection of indie-pop bangers.
If you want to understand why Glass Animals became one of the biggest bands in the world, this is the blueprint. It showed they had more than just a "sound"—they had something to say.
Next Steps for the Deep Diver:
- Track Down the Character Websites: Some of the original promotional sites for the characters are still archived online. Searching for the "S02E03" game or the "Life Itself" blog posts provides a deeper look into the lore.
- Analyze the Samples: Use sites like WhoSampled to look into the "Mama’s Gun" and "Cane Shuga" layers. Seeing where they pulled their sounds from reveals a lot about their influences.
- Compare to "Dreamland": Listen to "Agnes" and "Domestic Bliss" back-to-back. You’ll see how the band evolved from observing others to finally turning the camera on themselves.