As we ask artists from time to time, The Current recruited the 1975 to stop by the studio to take over our airwaves and play songs by some of their favorite artists.

Before the 1975 took over our airwaves, host Jade chatted with the entire band—Matty Healy, George Daniel, Ross MacDonald and Adam Hann—about their forthcoming album I Like It When You Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware of It, out Feb. 26, 2016 via Interscope.

"At the beginning of making the record, coming off touring for so long, your ideas of what you're going to do and how you're going to follow things up are kind of based in fear and anxiety and you don't know how people are going to relate to what you do on the next album. So I think that what we wanted to do is make sure we made a record that was about bold decisions and conviction and making sure it was all about the pursuit of what we wanted to do and what we felt was right," says Matty. "I think that the title is something that was said to a girlfriend of mine — probably not in as a poetic of a situation as you'd imagine, but — it was something that was said and it was written down and I just made a decision to call the record that before we'd even written it because it was a decision. It was a bold decision and it fed into the ethos of the production of the record."

The 1975 write honest songs. Primary lyricist Matty maintains that for a song to be beautiful, it has to be truthful, though it doesn't have to be overtly sentimental or personal. "There's a certain amount of exposure that is required in order to make a truly powerful song, especially for the artist, but then once you make that song, it doesn't really belong to you," says Matty.

As an honest group, Matty and the band always keep each other in check on the road (they tour through the spring including a May 25 show in St. Paul, Minn.). "One thing we always say is that a personal relationship predates any professionalism whatsoever," says George. "We've been together for 12 years now."

"When people starts bands when you're like 17, there's an agenda there," says Matty. "Our [agenda] was based on a carnal desire to make music. We were like 12 – like 13, 14 years old. ... We were doing it for the same reason that we were playing football or playing video games. It was because that's what we wanted to do. So by the time we got to 17, we didn't have those bizarre kind of hierarchies that are constructed through ego and all that. It was just about us four doing what we do and people starting to get into it."

Stream the 1975's Theft of the Dial with the above player to hear what production styles Matty likes, what group of 12 year olds sound as sophisticated as Mazzy Star and My Bloody Valentine, and to hear George's hilarious (and impressive) impression of Barry White.

Playlist

The 1975 - "Love Me"
The Ronettes - "Be My Baby"
Omarion - "Sex Playlist"
The Teenagers - "Feeling Better"
Pesky - "Keep Me"
MC5 - "Kick Out Jams"
Barry White - "Baby We Better Try to Get it Together"
The 1975 - "Ugh"

Related

• The 1975, official site