#104: Introducing...INEGO

Harnessing the perpetual energy of their city’s finest with and peppering it with an undercurrent of West Coast vibes are INEGO. Hailing from Manchester, this quartet have been making waves in the underground by supporting some of the city’s best known alumni, including The Courteeners and Twisted Wheel. Their insatiable amalgam of upbeat and optimistic pop-punk is offset by moments of candid sincerity. While it’s not quite the modern equivalent of the genre, INEGO have managed to contemporise the positive elements of 90s alternative/college rock while giving it a distinctly British aesthetic.

With a handful of singles under their belt, it’s not just journalistic hyperbole that set the hype machine rolling, they’ve been featured on BBC6 Music Manchester and have plied their trade up and down the country, not to mention in New York in support of their single ‘Your Style Defeats Me’, a huge-sounding ode to stadium rock that would feel right at home closing a festival, despite the band’s relatively small nature. Conversely, ‘Ghosts’ is a song which is wholeheartedly throwing itself to the realms of bands such as New Found Glory and the long-forgotten Mest. The intro features some nice muted guitar work, which is completely indicative of the genre to which it’s indebted while vocalist Toby Belshaw is sounding particularly Fenix Tx.




On the other hand, the more recent ‘Used to Give’ offers a darker disposition, at least throughout the verses, suggesting a maturing in the band as a whole. A particularly effective lead guitar is prominent throughout while the rhythm and bass form a particularly solid background. ‘Unoriginal’ shows a further facet to the band, in which the pace is traded in for stadium rock atmosphere and sees Belshaw’s vocals perhaps the strongest yet.

Purporting themselves as space-rock is a bit of an odd thing for the band to do, though whether it’s with tongues heading cheekwards I don’t know. What the band are is a modern embodiment of the bands of the yesteryear. There’s too many genres at play to be able to pigeon-hole the band as many reviewers do. The best way for you to understand would be to listen to them yourself. It’s at once both fresh and nostalgic. It’s summery but at times, shimmers with a wintery brilliance that contradicts other tracks in the band’s repertoire. It’s easy to see why INEGO have caused a stir, their sound encapsulates and reinvigorates a 90s genre thought dead and buried, that’s seemingly on course for a reinvention. Great stuff.

This article was originally written for Ears On. To read more, click here.