About the Album#
The Art of Lying is the record on which IST IST’s tightly controlled post-punk begins to open out. Made in the wake of their debut Architecture, it keeps the band’s brooding basslines and stark electronics but gives the songs more room to move: rhythms press forward, guitars flare at the edges and Adam Houghton’s voice holds the centre with a cool, imposing gravity.
That wider palette makes the album feel like a decisive second chapter rather than a repetition of the debut. Its tension comes from contrasts—melancholy against momentum, restraint against sudden force—and points towards the more expansive records that followed while preserving the austere intensity at the heart of IST IST’s sound.
Tracklist
- 01 Listening Through the Walls3:26
- 02 Fat Cats Drown in Milk3:19
- 03 Middle Distance3:43
- 04 Watching You Watching Me2:56
- 05 The Waves5:11
- 06 Extreme Greed4:14
- 07 It Stops Where It Starts3:08
- 08 If It Tastes Like Wine3:39
- 09 Heads on Spikes3:55
- 10 Don't Go Gentle4:47
