IST IST

Manchester quartet Ist Ist effectively channel the brooding post-punk of seminal bands like Joy Division, bringing the sound of the genre into the 21st century with an electronic twist. Formed in 2014, from the beginning the band had a defiantly D.I.Y. attitude, doing everything themselves. Building up buzz gradually through word of mouth, they slowly accrued a hardcore fan base, and, without a label or even a manager, were able to sell out large venues. They got airplay on national radio, and undertook a well-attended U.K. tour. In 2020, they released their debut album, Architecture, mastered by Grammy-winning Greg Calbi. Their 2021 follow-up The Art of Lying saw them hit the U.K. charts for the first time, and each subsequent album ranked higher than the one before, with 2023's Protagonists going to number 41 and 2024's Light a Bigger Fire to number 25. Their fifth album, Dagger, arrived in 2026.