This feature story appears in VMAN50, now available to order

If you ran into the members of Inhaler on the street, you’d be forgiven for mistaking them as university students that just finished a grueling round of exams. That’s partly because of their youth—they’re all 23 years old—and partly because of their unassuming air. As they field questions over Zoom from their native Dublin, Inhaler’s four school chums turned bandmates—frontman and guitarist Elijah Hewson, drummer Ryan McMahon, bassist Robert Keating, and guitarist Josh Jenkinson—chat as if they’re still a group of friends who jam together. The reality is that they’ve just wrapped up a busy year and a half: supporting Arctic Monkeys on tour, making their Glastonbury and Lollapalooza debuts, and headlining four sold-out U.K. shows to promote their first album—2021’s It Won’t Always Be Like This.

In the midst of all that chaos, they found time to make a second record. Their highly anticipated sophomore album, Cuts & Bruises, is out now. Don’t let the title fool you—Inhaler is still a band of optimists. “The whole point of Cuts & Bruises is that they’re only a few scratches,” Hewson says. “It’s an album about relationships [which] have ups and downs. But we’re coming out on the other side, and we’re not missing arms, legs, or anything. We’ve just got a few scars to show for it.”

The 11-track project is a catalog of hurts and remedies. Lyrically, Inhaler remains fixated on the thrills of youth, from the sleepless nights and all-consuming romances to unearned feelings of invincibility. The synthy lead single, “Love Will Get You There,” entrances with a catchy chorus and a compelling guitar riff. “If You’re Gonna Break My Heart” takes a more wistful tone, Hewson’s vocals impossibly airy as he croons a hyperbolic address to a potential heartbreaker. There’s a noticeably bigger sound to it all, though the group doesn’t stray too far from the gritty, uplifting beats they introduced in their first album. Rapping “will have to wait until the third album,” Keating jokes.

Inhaler has prompted comparisons to The 1975, Sam Fender, and U2—the latter inevitable, as Hewson’s father is U2 frontman Paul Hewson, aka Bono. But Hewson and the group aren’t dependent on his musical parentage, as evidenced by their commitment to a work ethic that some seasoned artists would flinch at. Cuts & Bruises coincides with a 36-date world tour featuring a more confident Inhaler. “On the first record, we didn’t feel like we had a sense of identity too much. Everything was bright and clean,” Hewson reflects, pausing to glance at his bandmates before deadpanning, “We want to do the opposite of that now.” The group nods in agreement. It’s clear Inhaler’s new era is going to be a wild ride—and we’re calling shotgun.

Cuts & Bruises is now available on all streaming platforms.

This feature story appears in VMAN50, now available to order