IST IST - Return with 'Obligations' || Final Single Ahead of 'DAGGER' Album - out 6 Feb
- Desh Kapur
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
IST IST
BREAK INTO THE NEW YEAR WITH:
“OBLIGATIONS”
WATCH OFFICIAL VIDEO BELOW
TAKEN FROM THE IMMINENT FIFTH ALBUM:
‘DAGGER’
OUT 6 FEBRUARY, VIA KIND VIOLENCE RECORDS
As their highly anticipated fifth album ‘DAGGER’ rears into view, IST IST have shared its final pre-emptive single “Obligations”.
With its pulsating bassline, driving beats, and synth throbs, “Obligations” is the enlivening new track from Manchester’s finest. Embodying the metamorphosis of IST IST as they gear-up for the next stage in their evolution, this latest cut is fittingly all about transformation and sacrifices that can come with it.
As vocalist Adam Houghton says:
"With “Obligations,” I wanted to capture the feeling of being bound to someone who represents both your salvation and your undoing. It’s about how love can feel like duty — something you can’t walk away from even when it hurts. I wanted to explore memory as something that both comforts and strangles, showing how the past can shape who we become. By the end, the narrator isn’t whole anymore, but they’ve accepted that pain and change are part of survival. It’s about transformation through loss — the quiet resilience of being altered by love.”
The new single arrives with a thought provoking official video featuring artist and longtime friend of the band Oliver Marson. Tuning into the track’s integral lyric “What is left is a different version of me”, we find Marson portraying an alternate version of the IST IST frontman.
With IST IST’s Joe Cross (Hurts, Courteeners, Slow Readers Club) produced fifth album ‘DAGGER’, now just four weeks away (out 6 February 2026, via Kind Violence Records), the track is a resolute reminder of its imminent release. Completely self-funded, self-recorded, and due to be released completely independently via their own Kind Violence Records imprint, five albums in, ‘DAGGER’ is the band’s most direct album yet and symbolises the driven DIY ethic that has been programmed into IST IST’s DNA since day dot.
Following a short stretch of European and UK shows this Autumn, IST IST will be hitting the road again in April this year, with upcoming shows in Norwich, Exeter, Oxford, Newcastle, Sheffield, Nottingham, Bristol, Brighton, PLUS recently added dates in Glasgow, Edinburgh, and London. These shows will pave the way towards their biggest hometown show to date, at Manchester’s Albert Hall in May. All dates are listed below, with all tickets on sale now.
In addition, IST IST are delighted to confirm a short series of intimate in-store/out-store shows as they launch their new album ‘DAGGER’. Catch them at these dates and venues:
IST IST - 2026 UK & IRELAND TOUR DATES
UK IN-STORE ALBUM LAUNCH SHOWS
Leeds - Headroom House - 07.02.26
Bury - The Met - 08.02.26
Edinburgh - The Caves - 09.02.26
Nottingham - Rough Trade - 10.02.26
London - Rough Trade East - 11.02.26
EUROPEAN SHOWS
Antwerp - Kafka Oudaan - 11.03.26
Cologne - Luxor - 12.03.26
Amsterdam - Paradiso - 14.03.26
Frankfurt - Das Bett - 15.03.26
Zurich - Werk 21 - 16.03.26
Milan - Santeria Toscana 31 - 17.03.26
Budapest - Durer Kert - 19.03.26
Bratislava - Pink Whale - 20.03.26
Krakow - Klub Zascianek - 22.03.26
Warsaw - Hydrozadka - 23.03.26
Berlin - Hole 44 - 24.03.26
Esbjerg - Tobakken - 26.03.26
Oslo - Parkteatret - 27.03.26
Stockholm - Kollektivet - 29.03.26
Hamburg - Logo - 31.03.26
UK HEADLINE SHOWS
Norwich - Waterfront - 09.04.26
London - The Garage - 10.04.26
Exeter - Phoenix - 11.04.26
Oxford - O2 Academy 2 - 12.04.26
Newcastle - The Grove - 16.04.26
Glasgow - Oran Mor - 17.04.26
Sheffield - Network - 18.04.26
Nottingham - Rescue Rooms - 23.04.26
Bristol - Thekla - 24.04.26
Brighton - Quarters - 25.04.26
Dublin - The grand Social - 28.04.26
Belfast - Ulster Sports Club - 29.04.26
Manchester - Albert Hall - 01.05.26
(w/ Support from DESPERATE JOURNALIST + THE YOUTH PLAY)
Tickets for all shows on sale here:
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