- 2021-07-12
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MUSIC
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Donate to support families affected by the crisis in Ukraine ➔ Inhaler Releases Debut Album “It Won't Always Be Like This”: Streaming
Irish alt-rock band Inhaler, consisting of Elijah Hewson, Robert Keating, Josh Jenkinson and Ryan McMahon, released their long-awaited debut album “It Won't Always Be Like This” on July 9, 2021.
The album comprises of 11-track, produced by Antony Genn. The band recorded at London's Narcissus Studios.
Inhaler shared on social media, “We've been waiting for this moment for what feels like forever - but we're so pleased to have this out in the world for you to experience. Our debut album It Won't Always Be Like This is Out Now! Get it on your headphones, get it on in the car, get it on your vinyl player - hope you love it as much as we loved making it, Inhaler x”
The album shares its title with one of the group's early singles. But its meaning has changed for the band over the past year, becoming something more hopeful in uncertain times.
“There's a sense of optimism on this album and the song It Won't Always Be Like This is the main catalyst for that,” says Elijah Hewson. “We kept coming back to that title.”
When the first lockdown arrived due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they found new levels as a band during recording the album, opening up both their sound and their lyrical themes, which turned into reflections on society and how to get through tough periods.
“We started writing this when we were teenagers and now we're adults,” says Robert Keating. “I wanted the songs to feel positive,” adds Elijah Hewson. “Because… it won't always be like this.”- sb9QtIEUjGo
- sb9QtIEUjGo
Inhaler explained track-by-track for the album via Apple Music.
“It Won't Always Be Like This”
Ryan McMahon: “That was the first song we wrote together. What's been interesting is how the title is being interpreted by different people. We can see in comment sections that there's people going, 'Yes! It won't always be like this. They're dead right.' And then other people are like, 'It won't always be like this? Yeah, it could get a lot worse, lads.' It's doing what songs should do—have a different meaning for a different person, depending on whatever point they're at in their life.”
Eli Hewson: “I still have on the old computer, on GarageBand, a little of that riff in there from 2016. I remember playing it in the room together for the first time and the drums being a hook. That was like, 'Oh man, that's catchy.' The first time we wrote something catchy.”
“My Honest Face”
Eli Hewson: “It fits into the theme of getting lost and finding yourself again, because it was all about finding out what you wanted to say onstage and what kind of people we wanted to be as performers, and that first experience getting up there and that kind of shock. So it's an important part of the story of the album.”
“Slide Out the Window”
Ryan McMahon: “That was one of the first lockdown tracks to really happen. Sonically and rhythmically, it's quite left-field from anything that anyone will have heard from us before. I remember hearing that beat in the song that someone had done on Logic: I thought, 'Oh no, this is going to be a nightmare. I have to go away and learn this now.'”
Eli Hewson: “It was written in the spring, and it reminds me of being in my bed, staring out the window over lockdown, just daydreaming and wishing that we were somewhere else.”
“Cheer Up Baby”
Eli Hewson: “We were in the studio, kind of wondering, 'Fuck, “Cheer Up Baby,” are we going to be able to say that? Are people going to be annoyed at us for saying it in a time like this?' But it just made sense. Our fans are in love with that song. We're in love with it. And every time we play it, they sing at the top of their lungs. So it really was a big moment for not just us but our fans, I think, to get their hands on that one.”
“A Night on the Floor”
Eli Hewson: “That's one that we've been playing for a long time. We came into the studio one day and Ant [Genn, producer] was messing around with what we had done, and he'd done the intro part with all that kind of crazy psychedelic stuff. We were like, 'Oh my god, there it is. That's the identity of that song.' [Lyrically it comes from ] the news. Looking at our phones over lockdown and just horror after horror. And most of it is inspired by stuff we'd seen over in America. We had such a really, really special time going over there, and we all fell in love with it again when we went on tour with Blossoms. And it's just sad to see America in that kind of state, because it symbolizes so much to us. It feels like, I guess, the States is having a bad hangover or something. It needs to get off its arse and have a coffee or something.”-
“My King Will Be Kind”
Eli Hewson: “It's kind of playing a character. I'd watched a documentary on incels. There's so many people in our generation that are so easily taken into extreme groups or fads. A lot of people don't really have any room for the other side of an argument. And that's what the song is trying to touch on. It was originally more of an Interpol-y-type thing. But it really did take shape in studio with the acoustic guitar.”
“When It Breaks”
Josh Jenkinson: “It came from being stuck in the room I spent my whole childhood in, and having gigs stripped away, and just longing to play that type of music and make that type of music.”
Ryan McMahon: “It was in contrast to that midtempo feeling that we'd been experiencing with 'Slide Out the Window' and 'My King Will Be Kind.' Those were songs reflecting our moods about being at home. 'When It Breaks' is us very much itching to get back to that place that we were at. It was written at a time where coronavirus was at its peak, Black Lives Matter was happening. Everything was a little bit up in arms and crazy. And so this was [Eli's] observation on it.”
Eli Hewson: “It's asking if there was an end to this whole crazy scenario that we're in, what's going to be on the other side, and are we going to change anything?”
“Who's Your Money On? (Plastic House)”
Eli Hewson: “It's about the future of the band and how much we want it. Maybe our relationships had taken a bit of a strain because we'd been in the studio for so long and there was a lot of pressure and a lot of work, and we weren't really hanging out—it felt more like we were there to do a job. This is us talking to each other, being like, 'This is a gamble that we're going to take. Gigs may never come back again. We may not be a band. But we've got everything to lose and everything to play for.'”
“Totally”
Eli Hewson: “It feels like a big pop song, but it's a different type of pop song than we had written before. It's funny because we weren't playing live, but it feels like it would be such a great festival tune. I guess we were imagining what that could look like—where are we going to be playing it, what moment in the show is it going to be? For us, this is the hold-your-mates-at-the-end-of-the-gig one, going 'Waaaaaayyy!'”
“Strange Time to Be Alive”
Rob Keating: “It used to be a full song and it turned into an interlude. It has only got the one lyric, a little message to have towards the end of the album. And we thought it worked really well with the ending song as well. We jammed it together in the studio.”
Ryan McMahon: “It was Ant who spotted it. It was the chorus of this demo that Rob was writing. He was like, 'We need to get that on the album. That's going to resonate with so many people.'”
“In My Sleep”
Eli Hewson: “When we did it, it felt like such a big Thin Lizzy moment, almost. We were like, 'Oh god, it reminds me of being at home,' that kind of music you listen to as a kid. And we put some uilleann pipes in there, which are an Irish instrument, and it really felt like us. It embodied that feeling of coming home after a tour. It just felt really natural to put at the end. It's a send-off.” - source : Apple Music
