Open Wide — Inhaler

By Eva Sawdey

Inhaler’s third album, Open Wide, combines rock with shoegaze tones. Famous for ‘It Won’t Always Be Like This’ from their debut album, the Irish rock band takes a more mature approach to exploring new ways of creative writing and taking inspiration from different genres. With heavy drums and baselines featured in Open Wide, Inhaler also incorporates soft reverberation, background vocals, and echoes as balance. 

At first, the repetitive guitar progression in most songs felt unexciting, where the lyrics are too teenager-attempting-to-write-a-song. The melodies of the songs were similar, all blending together. The album was sufficient enough for walking to class while passively listening, but I wouldn’t have chosen it for a driving playlist. However, after giving Open Wide a more active listen, there are some songs that stood out. 

The title track ‘Open Wide’ tackles the emotional dilemma of being with someone damaging but being unable to leave. The drums and bassline are a foundation to this song giving into the rock genre, while the guitar is reverberated, adding in shoegaze influence. These two are both used throughout the song as tools to show the contrast between wanting to leave and not being able to let go. The first chorus drops the drums and enhances the echoes, creating a feeling that the singer is letting go of all the harmful aspects of the relationship, and slowly slipping into the want to stay. The drums make a return when the next verse starts and remain for the next chorus, giving the idea that despite needing to leave, they are ultimately going to stay because they love the other person. The use of rock and shoegaze as instruments creatively contributes to delivering a story behind the song.

Continuing the theme of settling and self-sabotaging habits, ‘The Charms’ illustrates being one of the many people entranced by a single person. The guitar and bassline, while repetitive, keep the song at a steady and circular rhythm, giving the illusion of being a bit stuck in this relationship. However, these components fade during the verse when the singer admits they want more with, “I want you always.” Again, the instruments in this song contribute to evoking emotion and navigating the singer's story. 

‘Still Young’ is more uplifting, evoking the feeling of an end-credit song from the early 2010s. The lyrics in this song are less cryptic than some of the others on the album, painting a picture of someone looking back at a past relationship. However, the lyrics, “Cause we’re still young/ Least I’m still young” emphasises the song is about the singer and not the past partner. The singer has more time, and they aren’t beating themselves up for an experience that ended. While the song is heavily influenced by reverb and cloudy-sounding background music, creating the feeling of nostalgia and comfort, there is a guitar riff that sounds similar to the ones produced by The Strokes, sustaining their rock roots. 

While the album is instrumentally interesting, the lyrical aspect could be harder to follow. The lyrics are either simple and generic or too niche and cryptic. For the Inhaler’s third album, they took a different approach to their sound, trying to expand their range. The influence from the shoegaze genre may have been difficult to mix with rock but is done well.