Indigo Bay

“Grimsby grit” indie pop newcomers Indigo Bay are delighted to release their debut EP After Dark, which is out now via Heist or Hit (Her’s, Pizzagirl, Brad Stank).

Newly signed to tastemaker giants Heist or Hit in 2022, the four-piece decamped to Bam Bam Studios within the cultural shrine of Leeds to record After Dark with label mates Harry Jordan and Dan Clifford-Smith of Eades, and the results are scintillating.

The quartet kicked things off this summer with a double-whammy of sterling singles in ‘Bats’ and ‘Say What You Wanna Say’, marking them out as a band positioning themselves for future success by catching the attention of BBC Radio One new music maestro Jack Saunders, with tastemaker press at Vanyaland, The Unsigned Guide, Small Albums, Listen With Monger, Soundsphere, At The Barrier and Bring The Noise all jumping on board early.

They also received spins from BBC Introducing Humberside’s Alan Raw (who made it his Track of The Week), were C-Listed at Amazing Radio, and added to the BIRP! Indie Playlist, with latest single ‘Papercuts’ crashing onto Spotify’s Hot New Bands playlist.

Far beyond the outer ring roads of Leeds and Sheffield, there is an alluring ambivalence to a band from Grimsby crafting escapist indie. A youthful soundtrack to staring out of the window on long car rides, half-formed thoughts peeling off the back of your mind. A guitar-pop daydream.

That’s not to say After Dark sounds like a hammock-cocooned Hippo Campus in a wobbly synaesthesia trance—there’s bite (or Grimsby grit) as well. Specifically, a gentle melancholy coats the tracks; so while the music will bounce festival crowds, the lyrics are for dimly lit bedrooms.

Like the Marvel franchises they binge on, the band’s coming of age narrative must be preceded by its origins story. If they had a superpower it’d be escape: escape from preconceptions, expectations, depression and geography. The name itself is representative of a paradise of sorts; a portkey to an abstract sanctuary of music making.

The tumbledown aw shucks-ness of their group dynamic only makes them all the more endearing. There’s a generosity to their knock-about energy and room on this road trip for all comers.


Debut EP After Dark is out now via Heist or Hit