IF there was one band that seemed destined to be booked to play Kendal Calling 2019, it’s Indigo Youth.

The Barrow pop outfit were announced in the first wave of acts to feature at this summer’s festival alongside the likes of Courteeners, Manic Street Preachers and Tom Jones.

The call-up made up for last year’s disappointment, where they were arguably the county’s most high-profile omission on the line-up for the Cumbria-focused Yam Riot stage in its debut outing.

“At the time of Kendal last year, the band was still in its early days and we were maybe not at the stage where we could play Kendal Calling,” admits keyboardist Matt Payne.

“We’ve put a lot of work in the past 12 months, and with hindsight, we’ll have a much bigger impact this time than we would have last summer.

“We’ve always wanted to do a major festival, and Kendal’s close to home and a lot of bands we’re friends with have played there, so it was always a good choice for our first big festival.”

Indigo Youth undoubtedly made plenty of progress in 2018, but it is only with a recent line-up change that the five-piece now feel complete. Drummer Jonathan Doyle has come in to join Matt and fellow founder Eshi Musaji (guitar), vocalist Lorna McCarthy and bassist Daniel Morris.

Their debut single, almost two years ago now, was So Good – a summery pop tune, which ended up being used as the soundtrack to the BBC’s Kendal Calling highlights package that year.

And while they’ve been made to wait for their live debut at Cumbria’s premier music event, they’ve used that time to refine their pop-driven indie sound and have just put out their strongest track to date.

Dan says: “It’s the first time we’ve recorded everything properly, fully live, and it makes it sound much more professional.

“We worked with Dave Anson at Glass Sound Studio, in Barrow. What we’ve done with Boy Troubles, I think it’s got that real Radio 1 sound that they would really go for.”

Playing Kendal Calling was their number one objective for the new year, but inevitably growing the fanbase and playing in new towns were also targets to aim for.

Matt says: “We want to get a string of city gigs in preparation for Kendal, and definitely get another single out - possibly an EP - just release more music.”

Dan adds: “We want to do a tour, even if it’s a tour of the North West. We’ve had offers from people to be our tour manager - we just need a tour!”

Indigo Youth appear at Kendal Calling 2019, which takes place at Lowther Deer Park from July 25-28. Tickets at www.kendalcalling.co.uk/tickets

The single, Boy Troubles, is available via www.indigoyouth.co.uk and to stream and purchase on the major music streaming websites.