IST IST
Architecture

IST IST come from Manchester and sound like Joy Division. The review could end here... but that's not the case... and it would be a shame. It would be a great shame, yes, because it's unlikely you'll listen to many better albums than this one this year.

Formed in late 2014, IST IST have built a solid reputation thanks to intense performances in the most prestigious venues in their city like The Ritz, Gorilla, and The Deaf Institute. Subsequently, thanks to the release of a series of singles and EPs, they received regular airplay by the well-known BBC Radio 6 DJ Steve Lamacq, which helped build anticipation around the release of their debut album.

"Architecture", that's the title of their debut work, has immediately entered the top 5 of the independent sales charts, in both vinyl and physical format, confirming the quality of their music: a hard-rock oriented towards the early punk sounds that evolves into a dark-rock leaning towards the pop of Joy Division and Interpol.

Led by the baritone voice of their frontman Adam Houghton, comparable to those of Ian Curtis and Harry McVeigh, these guys showcase throughout the ten tracks of the album a personality, quality, and compositional ability above the current standards both in more guitar-driven tracks like the single "You're Mine" and "Night's Arm" and in more synthetic ones like "Drowning In The Shallow End."

Do we bet that in a few years many music enthusiasts will vividly remember where they were when they first listened to "Black" and "Silence"?