It Won’t Always Be Like This by Inhaler

Inhaler's first album, It Won't Always Be Like This, arrived on Polydor on 9 July 2021 and went straight in at number one in both Ireland and the UK. The Dublin four-piece, together since 2012, had meant to start recording in March 2020 before the pandemic shut everything down, which gives that title an extra twist. Elijah Hewson sings and plays guitar, Josh Jenkinson doubles on guitar and keys, Robert Keating plays bass and Ryan McMahon drums, with Antony Genn producing.

They tested their songs in front of crowds, and it shows: the title track, among the very first things they wrote, found its shape on stage and had long been their show opener, so it opens the record too. It's big, bright guitar music with chiming hooks and choruses aimed at the back of the hall, and "Cheer Up Baby" is the pick of them, a song they carried all the way to The Late Late Show with James Corden. Cuts & Bruises followed in 2023.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.