Shallow, panicked breathing is the first thing you’ll hear on Girl Band’s new album The Talkies. Set over a low, thrumming bass, the rush of air – in, out, in, out – sounds so close that it could be filling your own lungs. “Yeah, I’ve always liked breathing,” deadpans vocalist Dara Kiely. “I was feeling a bit panicked one day so I just started breathing into the mic. We felt like it was weirdly aggressive. It baffled us. So we kept the take.”

The Dublin four-piece’s abrasive, industrial records are bodily experiences. Brutalist soundscapes and absurd lyrics make for a first listen that’s often more sensation than comprehension. When we meet the band on a sticky day in west London, they are visibly but cheerily hungover. From a semi-horizontal position, drummer and producer Daniel Fox offers a bashful explanation. “We just sat up all night talking fucking nonsense.”

Kiely, Fox, guitarist Alan Duggan and drummer Adam Faulkner have been close friends since they were teenagers. This friendship underpins all that they do. “From the first record it was all of us in the room, all at once,” affirms Duggan. It’s helped them to take risks in the studio, but more importantly to prioritise each other over the band’s success.

Girl Band’s mind-bending, unyielding debut album Holding Hands with Jamie came out in 2015, and it captured the frenetic live energy that had won the band a loyal fanbase in Dublin and beyond. The record also reflected an intense period of illness for Kiely. Although the group spoke openly to the press about his mental health, some splashy, opportunistic headlines were quick to label their songs ‘psychotic’ or ‘insane’. Over the 12 months that followed, the band cancelled several major tours on grounds of ill health, and eventually stepped out of the indie limelight altogether. Now four years on, their return is decisive: in interviews, the music comes first.