It’s always a good sign to see a band fully committed to what they believe in. Ist Ist may sound like they come from the old East Germany but are actually a Mancunianfour piece consisting of Adam Houghton (vocals), Mat Peters (guitar), Andy Keating (bass) and Joel Kay (drums). Proudly DIY, their no compromise attitude towards the music industry has seen them build a cult following, an appeal that threatened to go mainstream with 2024’s Light A Bigger Fire.
The group returned from the tour supporting that and headed straight for the studio with the adrenaline still apparently pumping in their veins. The end result in Dagger was a record which Peters’ says was effectively made with their live show firmly in mind. For himself Houghton has pointed to the record’s title as a nod to the duality of being a performer in a world largely hostile to the idea of artistic endeavour.
Schooled in what’s best for them, the singer delivers a distinctive, crepuscular vocal turn across the album’s ten songs, all of which are indebted to post punk’s modern hallmarks – thundering bass, swirling atmospheric synths, shredded danceophobia – and over which the shadow of the Editors and White Lies inevitably hangs. There’s enough dungeon disco fun here to satisfy, particularly through the melodramatic opener I Am The Fear and Ambition, but the show is stolen by the lightest touch of Warning Signs, a track on which Ist Ist are more than you sense just doing what they think their audience expect them to.
You can read a full review here.
The Voice Of Unreason 