AFTER DARK

Indigo Bay’s label debut radiates the kind of airtight, low-stakes, high-serotonin indie-pop that bumps the nervous system. Addictive melodies and gigantic pop hooks deliver the same blue-sky-whiplash as the first day of Spring. However, a gentle melancholy coats the tracks; so while the music will bounce festival crowds, the lyrics are for dimly lit bedrooms. This riot of sensory excess delivers a sonic ice cream headache; leaving you jittery with E numbers on the one hand but craving relative seclusion on the other. It’s quite the recipe & makes for widescreen indie-pop able to explore themes of shame, joy, bravery and fear.

The auditory variety of the EP is underpinned by an idiosyncratic pop sensibility, allowing the band to explore and incorporate styles while retaining a voice that is identifiably Indigo Bay. It’s a road of eclecticism travelled by peers like The 1975, sightseeing in the cracks between genres.  Lyrically, Callum Minks has a handle on the complexities and contradictions of subjects such as depression and gen-Z life, to which he’s empathic and honest. This is guitar music for the no-filter generation.