Inhaler: It Won’t Always Be Like This review – polished and confident indie-rock debut

Let’s address the elephant in the room, shall we? Yes, Elijah Hewson, the frontman of Inhaler, is Bono’s son. As a band judged entirely on their own merit, however, the young Dublin four-piece are a sound prospect. Their debut album certainly comes good on the promise of early singles, showcasing an altogether more polished, confident and well-rounded band. More importantly, there are some killer songs here, not least the 1980s post-punk, Echo and the Bunnymen-inspired My Honest Face, the bristling indie-rock gallop of In My Sleep and the poppy tilt of Totally. Inhaler are a band that pilfer brazenly from their influences, but do so with equal amounts of charm and insolence. In Hewson, they have a charismatic vocalist capable of attitude (as heard on the title track) and a languorous bawl, particularly on the plentiful big choruses strewn throughout this album.

When not concerning themselves with prickly rock songs, the band adopt a more mellow tone on the likes of the sedate groove of Slide Out the Window and My King Will Be Kind. These songs, perhaps a bid to show their versatility, are arguably unnecessary and sound comparatively perfunctory when placed alongside the brisk, clamorous racket of songs like When I Sleep. Even so, they are forgivable transgressions on a debut album and as its title suggests, the best is yet to come.