Inhaler tell us about single ‘Your House’ and new album ‘Open Wide’: “There’s a strong sense of arrival for us”
Inhaler have spoken to NME about their energetic new single ‘Your House’ and the process of creating their upcoming third album album ‘Open Wide’.
The Dublin indie stars – comprised of frontman and guitarist Eli Hewson, bassist Robert Keating, guitarist Josh Jenkinson and drummer Ryan McMahon – have shared their new single today (October 29).
‘Your House’ is a vigorous song with anthemic synths, reminiscent of BØRNS‘ 2015 track ‘Electric Love’, giving listeners a taste of their new direction. A gospel choir is splashed in during the chorus of: “There ain’t a sharp enough knife to cut me out of your life / I’m going to your house tonight,” highlighting Inhaler’s new era.
“The song is about chasing some sort of destructive force in your own life, essentially just wanting something that’s not good for you,” Hewson told NME. “We’ve never released a song that sounds anything like it,” added McMahon. “Both sonically and musically, it covers a lot of different territories that we were exploring on the album while we were writing and recording it.”
Third album ‘Open Wide’ was produced by Kid Harpoon – aka Tom Hull, most notably known for working on Harry Styles‘ 2022 Grammy Award-winning album ‘Harry’s House‘, and follows on from last year’s ‘Cuts & Bruises‘ and 2021 debut ‘It Won’t Always Be Like This’.
Check out our full interview below, where the band tell us about their “refreshing” third LP, how New York City inspired them and Hewson’s time living in the Big Apple as a kid (alongside his family and father, U2‘s Bono), working with a new producer and how they have managed to become the band they’ve always wanted to sound like.
NME: Hello Inhaler. Your new single opens with this pounding drum beat, glam synths and features gospel singers. It feels so different from all of your previous work. Where did those ideas come from?
Ryan McMahon: “We were inspired a lot by T. Rex on that song.”
Robert Keating: “We had that song for a while, and it was going down a road that we all liked, but we weren’t in love with it just yet so everyone was holding onto the track.
“While working with Tom Hull, our producer for this album, we began thinking ‘How can we make this a little different?’ which led us to try out different stuff and we eventually ended up doing the intro keyboard thing one day, which re-informed the song and made us view it in a new way. He also had the idea of trying to get the gospel singers in and that was just one of the songs where it worked really well.”
Where did the album titled ‘Open Wide’ come from?
Josh Jenkinson: “Eli had the demo for [the title track] since 2021 and the name’s always been there. When we got around to deciding on a title, it just felt right. It felt honest.”
Eli Hewson: “It also felt vulnerable and a bit comforting which signified all of the feelings on the album. We were struggling to find a name for a long time. Often, how we make a lot of our decisions [with album titles] is by choosing the one that sticks in our head the most after a while. The one that kind of survives all the conversations and arguments. This is the one that we landed on. I think it’s actually a perfect summing of the whole thing.”
You guys previously shared that ‘Cuts & Bruises’ was a “band album” which saw you create what you wanted to hear and liked. What was the aim of this LP?
Hewson: “The first two albums were more like vehicles to get out and tour and do that kind of side of things. We were writing for live a lot of the time. We still are on this album, but this one feels like more of a concise project.”
Ryan McMahon: “It’s funny because that quote has felt a little untrue over time. It feels more true to ‘Open Wide’ because, with this one, we didn’t actually have any pressure to be out on tour or do anything.
“We had eight months off and we were free to just write as a four-piece in our rehearsal room. That shines through in the songs. There’s a sense of optimism in the tracks and just this free-flowing thing that we were all feeling.”
Hewson: “It feels very relaxed and free, intentional.”
McMahon: “Less pressurised.”
Keating: “We’ve definitely gotten better at writing songs. We worked with a new producer on this album for the first time. Working with him made us realize that we had to bring our ‘A’ game and that, in a sense, was the kind of the only pressure we did deal with throughout the whole thing. Just knowing that we had to bring it and be the best versions of ourselves.”
Hewson: “He was from outside the circle and was a fresh listener of the band, he didn’t know us.”
What was it like working with Kid Harpoon? How did he push you guys forward?
Hewson: “It was so fun, we had such a great time. He and Brian Rajaratnam (audio engenieer) were an amazing team to work with. We did it in London at RAK Studios and seeing all the different bands on the walls made us think ‘Ok, we really need to step up here’ and pretend like we know what we are doing in front of Tom.
“He has his moments, but he, overall, had this ease of being in the studio and wanting to enjoy every minute of it so it didn’t feel like he was stressing us out at any point. It was just like, ‘Let’s just enjoy making this thing, and then at the end, we’ll just see what we have’ and that was really refreshing.”
At your NYC show, you shared that a lot of the album was written and inspired by the Big Apple. What was it about the city that struck that inspiration?
Hewson: “People always talk about that adrenaline of the journey from the airport to the city, when you drive over the bridge and you see the skyline for the first time. A lot of that energy was used to finish our songs, and having that kind of spark just made things feel fresher. We love Dublin and the UK, but whenever we land in New York, we just want to go and do something immediately.
“It was exciting to harness that energy and put it into music and lyrics, especially because there’s so much to write about there. You can sit in a park for hours and just watch people and never get bored.”
Eli, you lived in NYC for a bit when you were younger, right?
Hewson: “Yeah I did but, you don’t appreciate it as a kid. When we came to New York for the first time when we were older in the van from Washington, D.C., when we were on that Blossoms tour, that was a real, ‘Oh, Shit. This is different. This is like the Mecca of everything’ moment.
“It’s like the centre of the universe and at the time, Josh and Ryan had never been there, so to see it through their eyes was really special.”
Keating: “We wrote the bulk of this album in Ireland and the UK but this time around, we discovered what we actually wanted to say and do once we got to LA and New York. It’s also like a reflection of where we are at in our lives, especially for Eli and me because we go back and forth to New York a lot. We spend so much time in the States so it felt true and right that the city influenced the music in the way that it did.”
To tease ‘Open Wide’, you guys shared a post on social media with the caption “Third time’s the charm”. Usually when that phrase is used, it’s because you failed at something twice, and then the third time is when you succeed. What was the reason for teasing the album like that?
Hewson: “There is a lot to unpack there, I am just trying to figure out what we should unpack.”
Keating: “I can say that there’s definitely a correlation to something within that sentence in the album, so if you’re looking for an itch to be scratched, it will be scratched at some point. But also, it didn’t feel like a failure between the first two albums, more like us reaching for something.”
Hewson: “As a band or artist, you should always want to do better than the last because, without that, I don’t see any point in anything.”
McMahon: “We’ve finally gotten to a point on this album where we actually sound like the band that we want to sound like. What happens after this one, I’m not sure what will sound like next, but there’s a strong sense of arrival for us.”
‘Open Wide’ is set for release on February 7 2025 via Polydor
You can catch Inhaler on the remaining dates of their 2024 North American tour. Visit here for tickets and more information.
The post Inhaler tell us about single ‘Your House’ and new album ‘Open Wide’: “There’s a strong sense of arrival for us” appeared first on NME.
Anagricel Duran
NME
