In 2013, when indie was saturated with reverb-heavy guitars and bands were trying to sound like the British coast despite living in Arizona, The Neighbourhood arrived with a debut that felt completely detached from its surroundings. I Love You. wasn’t a bright album, or did it try to be. It was more of a statement of intent: darkness, youth, anxiety, sensuality, and isolation, wrapped in a sound that borrowed equally from R&B and alt-rock, without pledging allegiance to either.
It might not be the most rock-driven record you’ll hear this week, but trust us it’s absolutely worth your time. A no-skips album where every track feels like part of something bigger, with a variety and sonic cohesion that’ll have you hooked from the very first minute.
A palette in black and white:
From its monochromatic cover to its fog-drenched visuals, The Neighbourhood’s aesthetic universe was just as important as their music.
Sure, they didn’t invent the black-and-white aesthetic in fact, plenty of their contemporaries embraced a similar vibe: The 1975, the entire career of The Hives, The Police with Reggatta de Blanc, or even The Beatles on some of their records.
But The NBHD knew how to own it like no one else.
So much so, that despite the sonic shifts in their later work, they’re still remembered as that black-and-white band.
The success and virality of Sweater Weather:
If one track managed to encapsulate an entire era, it was Sweater Weather. Released as a single in 2012 and gaining global popularity in 2013, the song became a phenomenon on YouTube, Tumblr, and later TikTok. Its success was so massive that it resurfaced years later in pop culture, becoming something of an anthem for the “sad boy aesthetic” and millennial nostalgia. With its ambiguous lyrics about desire, freedom, and protection (“it’s too cold for you here…”), the song captured the mood of an entire generation that didn’t know whether to slow dance or cry wrapped in an oversized hoodie.
An unhurried album, yet filled with tension:
The opening track, How, feels almost like a prayer: slow, atmospheric, painful. It’s followed by songs like Afraid and W.D.Y.W.F.M.?, which balance emotional anxiety with more accessible rhythms. On Female Robbery and Flawless, the band flirts with a kind of drama reminiscent of The 1975, though without the sugary excess. Meanwhile, tracks like Alleyways and Float are introspective, almost narcotic as if pulled from Massive Attack’s trip-hop universe but filtered through Tumblr culture.
Emotional without being cheesy:
I Love You. is an album that, without relying on grandiose riffs or festival-ready choruses, feels genuinely deep. The production is carefully crafted, and the lyrics mostly explore insecurities and intimate dilemmas without ever sounding self-indulgent. It’s music meant to be listened to alone or with someone you understand without having to say a word.
The legacy of The NBHD:
The Neighbourhood achieved what many of their contemporaries couldn’t: they crafted a sonic and visual identity from their very first album. I Love You. wasn’t just an introduction it was a manifesto. Their influence can still be felt today in younger artists like Cigarettes After Sex, Joji, Billie Eilish, and even in the more atmospheric phases of Bring Me The Horizon (Post Human, for example).
The album wasn’t perfect, but it never tried to be. It was honest, cohesive, and above all distinctive. And in a scene where everything started to sound the same, that already meant a lot.
This is one of those records that can change your life.
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