The truth will out

WATCH: Check out Indigos Ego's debut single

“Some people said we sound like a mix of...,” says Anne O’Reilly pausing to open it up to the other members of Indigos Ego. Without dropping a beat Barry Carmichael chimes in: “We’ve heard The Smashing Pumpkins, Radiohead.”

In chorus Paddy and Mark add: “The Cranberries”.

“That’s a few of the influences,” says Barry, before Anne sums it up: “It’s a bit of an ‘90s alternative indie sound.”

Within the first minute of chatting, all four of Indigo’s Ego have pitched in. For many bands that could take an entire interview. It reflects well on the quartet. Egos are in check.

We’ve met in the Townhall Arts Centre midweek where they’re shooting a video - something curious involving ladders - for debut single ‘Truth Lies’ released last Friday.

A run of singles are planned for the coming months culminating in an album maybe June/July; and a launch gig at the Townhall in early September.

The Celt is intrigued by how such disparate sounds as The Cranberries, Pumpkins and Radiohead can be smashed into a cohesive sound.

“We’re not musically like The Cranberries, I don’t think” stresses Paddy, “but everyone comes back saying ‘Your voice is in that category.’”

Anne agrees: “I think it’s the female vocal, my range is probably similar to hers.”

There definitely is an O’Riordan-esque quality to Anne’s singing on their excellent opening single, ‘Truth Lies’.

The Egos’ collective approach to interviews is replicated when it comes to the music.

“We’re all doing bits of it,” says bassist and vocalist Anne. “I’m doing most - not all - of the lyrics, and the melody of the singing.”

She emphasises that Barry and Mark pitch in on songwriting duties. “It’s a real collaboration.”

Anne and Mark are married and they joke they’ve adopted Barry he’s been over so much.

“The hub is definitely Mark and Anne’s house,” says Barry. “We’ve spent a lot of time around the kitchen table drinking cups of tea and thrashing out ideas.

“Some of the riffs I’ve had in my fingers for a couple of years, so it’s been great to be able to express them, and to have people to work with - I wouldn’t be an lyricist so it’s nice to be able to work with Anne.”

The Celt spots that drummer Paddy was left out of the songwriting chat. “I came in late,” he says, explaining the band were together six months before he joined.

“When I turned up there were definitely five or six songs where the bones were already there.”

We restructured them and changed a few bits and made them noisier. Then we wrote three songs on top of that, maybe four songs.”

Only together a matter of weeks they announced their arrival with the opening slot at last summer’s Sing4Me in Blessings which proved “tough”; but they found their groove at the Gig for Gaza in November at the same venue which happily went much better.”

We got really good feedback on the songs, we got to do the full eight or nine songs at that,” replies Mark of the Gaza fundraiser. “We’ve definitely got stronger and stronger with practice.”

The Celt notes they must have been confident on the material to have aired them so quickly.

“We’ve been in so many bands,” says Paddy. “We’ve been playing music for nearly 30 years, and I’ve never heard songs as strong. I’ve never been in a band where I was as proud of the songs. “I think the potential of the songs really caught my eye - really strong song writing, really catchy, but they are not throw-away pop songs, they’ve got real depth to their lyrics. Even the one about couches and cats,” he says intriguingly, but we’ll have to wait for the album to hear the feline ditty.

Indigo Ego’s opening shot is the single Truth Lies. Barry and Mark’s crisp guitar lines interplay exquisitely over Paddy’s pounding drums as Anne sings ‘You only tell me the truth when the lies don’t suit.” Her understated bass holds the song together up to the closing minutes when they let loose with a melodramatic rock out to bring the tune to a raucous close. It’s class.

The single and forthcoming album were recorded at JAM Recording Studios in Carnaross with the help of Liam McCabe, who they regard as the fifth Ego. The multi-instrumentalist and accomplished songwriter added synthesisers to some of the tracks.

“When we were recording he had great input on stuff, and we do have him for the album launch,” said Anne.

The album will weigh in at a spritely 45 minutes across nine tracks.

“It’s a tidy little album,” Anne remarks.

They are aiming to play a few festivals and venues around the country this year. For a full set they aim to add a few new songs to the setlist and keep covers to a minimum.

“We’ve played in cover bands for years, so it’s great to have your name on something that’s your own,” says Mark. “And it’s a passion project as well - so we’re all really involved and love doing it.”