The Ingrid – “Lullaby”

“Lullaby” sets you up. The name alone does half the work, you expect something gentle, maybe a little melancholy, and for the first minute or so that’s what you get. Then the unease starts to creep in, and you realize that’s been the point the whole time.

The Ingrid are a talented trio from Chichester, Jess Charleslyn, Will Hornsblow, Josh Platt, and they’ve been sharpening a sound that pulls from dream-pop, shoegaze, and alt-rock without fully landing in any of them and you can hear The Sundays in the atmosphere, Wolf Alice in the dynamics, a bit of The Smiths in the emotional logic. Charleslyn’s vocal sits right in that discomfort, calm, a little detached, aware of the illusion without quite stepping outside it. Hornsblow’s guitar has a blues edge that pushes through at the right moments. It keeps the song from floating off entirely.

Their two previous singles, “Limerence” and “Mother“, already hinted at a running thread through their work. “Lullaby” makes that thread feel more deliberate. I keep thinking about what a full album from them would actually sound like.

This is the one to start with, but go back and hear the earlier singles too. Then follow The Ingrid, they seem to have a lot in motion for the rest of this year, and I’d hate to miss what comes next.