A maximalist experimental album, Notes on a Conditional Form has a free-flowing structure composed of conventional songs, classical orchestral interludes and ambient electronic instrumentals.

The album contains loose song structures characterised by their stream of consciousness deliveries, neo-noir ambience, downcast string arrangements, melancholic orchestral flourishes and sudden contrasts.

Guest contributors to the album include Phoebe Bridgers, FKA Twigs, Cutty Ranks, climate change activist Greta Thunberg, and Matty Healy's father, Tim.

Prior to the album's debut, the band released "The 1975" and the singles "People", "Frail State of Mind", "Me & You Together Song", "The Birthday Party", "Jesus Christ 2005 God Bless America", "If You're Too Shy (Let Me Know)" and "Guys".

In an April interview on Zane Lowe's Beats 1 Radio show, the singer confirmed the title Music For Cars and announced a 2018 release,[6] saying "[the album] has always been called that, and we were always gonna do a trilogy of records".

[8] With Music For Cars, the singer aimed to create the most important pop album of the decade, hoping to achieve the same impact as Radiohead's OK Computer (1997) and the Smiths' The Queen Is Dead (1986).

Healy also revealed the name of a new song, "Jesus Christ 2005 God Bless America" (2020),[10] while the band's manager Jamie Oborne said the first recording sessions for the album were planned for September.

[35] The 1975 designed Notes on a Conditional Form as an experimental album meant to represent dance music in the UK,[29][37][38] taking inspiration from the British club scene, Burial, the Streets and Brian Eno.

"[47] Notes on a Conditional Form is a sonically experimental album that explores an expansive array of genres,[42] incorporating sounds, styles and textures extrapolated from a diverse set of scenes and eras.

[52] For this reason, Mitch Mosk of Atwood Magazine said the album traverses "lush valleys" of ambience and "stirring peaks" of intimacy, ultimately deeming it genreless.

[38][60] Healy told Brittany Spanos of Rolling Stone that it was rare for him to hear country music growing up, shaping his view of it as "kind of exotic and pioneering.

"[38] Notes on a Conditional Form has a free-flowing maximalist structure composed of traditional songs, instrumental tracks and interludes, while orchestral pieces and ambient electronic explorations provide the album's "connective tissue".

[50][56][61] It features loose, winding stream of consciousness song structures that alternate between moments of disorder and "rigid flow"; serving as a contrast to its "tighter, more calculated" predecessor.

[58][44][62] The songs espouse neo-noir ambience, characterised by downcast, anxious string arrangements, sonic rhymes, sudden contrasts, electronic pulses, pensive acoustic guitars, and melancholic orchestral flourishes.

"[25] According to Healy, Notes on a Conditional Form represents his search for the definitive answers to life, saying it is about inherent and universal feelings but ultimately is "really just about [himself]"; his fears, desires and loves.

[67] The singer projects topics that are "fatalistic, romantic, and tissue-thin in their sensitivity",[41] writing about establishing and navigating personal connections in the online world, the nuances of "messy" relationships, facing challenges without resorting to substance abuse, self-medication, and confronting feelings of apathy and powerlessness.

[27] Healy sought to reflect on the choices he has made,[27] wanting to create a "snapshot in time" similar to Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska (1982), focusing on themes of domesticity and mental health.

[71] Paul Schrodt of Slant Magazine said Healy was unable to hide behind his "ironic postmodernist guise", focusing instead on deconstructing his mythology and letting "his ambition and sincerity openly roam, sitting uncomfortably alongside more familiar sides of his personality.

"[63][72] Conrad Duncan of Under the Radar commented that the album was a reflective and "oddly sober" re-evaluation of Healy's persona, attempting to find what comes after commercial success and critical acclaim when "old flaws and insecurities resurface".

[117] On 18 February 2020, the 1975 announced on Twitter that "The Birthday Party", the fourth single from Notes on a Conditional Form, would debut live on Lowe's Beats 1 Radio show at 5 PM the next day, followed by the music video one hour later.

[126] To further promote Notes on a Conditional Form, the 1975 planned to embark on the second half of the Music for Cars Tour, which began in November 2018 to support A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships.

In a statement posted on their Instagram, the band said: "These are incredibly difficult times for a lot of people, and until we can be sure that we will be able to play shows in a way that is safe for our fans and crew, we have decided the best course of action is to cancel our touring.

[139][140] Artists Respond to NOACF features contributions from Agusta YR, Ai-Da, Alice Bucknell, Christopher MacInnes, Demon Sanctuary, Frederick Paxton, Jacolby Satterwhite, Joey Holder, Lu Yang, Mia Kerin, Most Dismal Swamp, Rindon Johnson, Sondra Perry, and Weirdcore.

[139] For "Tonight (I Wish I Was Your Boy)", Most Dismal Swamp focused on a 3D animated teddy bear,[141] while Demon Sanctuary employed a generative adversarial network (GAN) using sea slugs for "The End (Music For Cars)",[142] and MacInnes' contribution for "Streaming" used images from international imageboards such as 4chan.

[147][148] Perry's contribution focused on a Black 3D avatar for "What Should I Say",[149] Weirdcore's visual for "Bagsy Not In Net" features kaleidoscopic patterns of astronauts,[150] while Holder's film for "Nothing Revealed / Everything Denied" was inspired by sigils, the occult and The Book of Pleasure: Psychology of Ecstasy (1913) by Austin Osman Spare.

[172][173] Notes on a Conditional Form received polarised reviews from contemporary music critics, with some deeming it confusing and chaotic, while others viewed it as "a work of panoramic genius.

He wrote that despite a lack of complete coherence, it demonstrated "a level of unquenchable ambition, creativity, and outspoken curiosity that's rarely felt in popular music today.

"[180] Writing for Paste, Lizzie Manno praised the album's musical ambition, but found the lack of connecting threads made it overwhelming, inconsistent and exhaustingly chaotic, saying it was "far too ambitious and self-aware ... for its own good.

Club writer Annie Zaleski was receptive to the beginning of the album but criticised the instrumentals, lyrical shallowness and sequencing as it progressed, writing: "the sonic hopscotch that once amplified the group's singularity now feels like a liability.

"[55] Similarly, The Independent's Roisin O'Connor deemed the album "a smug farrago" filled with inconsistent nonsense, meaningless orchestral interludes and indistinguishable dance songs, calling it "a 22-track parade of stream-of-consciousness self-indulgence.