#SPRINTS Letter to Self

[thejoyofviolentmovement]

New Audio: Dublin's SPRINTS Share Cathartic and Deeply Personal "Shadow Of A Doubt"

New Audio: Dublin's SPRINTS Share Cathartic and Deeply Personal "Shadow Of A Doubt" @sprintsmusic @CitySlang @riotactmedia @Ellius_Grace

Formed back in 2019, Dublin-based punks SPRINTS — Karla Chubb (vocals, guitar), Colm O’Reilly (guitar), Jack Callan (drums) and Sam McCann (bass) — have developed and crafted an abrasive brand of punk rock, influenced by early Pixies, Bauhaus, Siousxie Sioux, King Gizzard, Savages, and LCD Soundsystem.  Their first two EP’s, 2021’s Manifesto and last year’s A Modern Job were released to…

[dustedmagazine]

SPRINTS — Letter to Self (City Slang)

“This is an exploration of pain, passion, and perseverance.”

Karla Chubb, SPRINTS

After three years of playing during which they released two EPs, the Dublin-based band SPRINTS has issued their first full-length recording, Letter to Self. Rather than reaching for the catharsis of relatively nonspecific raucous vitriol, which typified their inception, SPRINTS uses the LP to zero in on emotional illness and feminist issues: bodily autonomy, shaming and sexual assault among them. Karla Chubb, the band’s singer, guitarist and principal songwriter has crafted songs that capitalize on the band’s capacity for noise-laden yet often melodically memorable music-making, and on her own ability to bellow lyrics with harrowing emotionality. She isn’t the only one shout-singing, and one of my favorite parts of the record is when what seems like one moment to be a chorus of howls will move seamlessly into harmonized, if rough hewn, vocalizing. Guitarist Colm O’Reilly, bassist Sam McCann and drummer Jack Callan are a tight unit that unerringly support the charged rhythms and distressed harmonies that exemplify SPRINTS’s sound.

“Adore, Adore, Adore” has a slow burn with sprechstimme from Chubb in the verse followed by a plaintive chorus,”They never call me b-b-beautiful, they only call me insane.” Like the best of Letter to Self, amid a thicket of distortion, and with the edge of a scream, lies a memorable hook. Another standout is “Heavy,” for which Chubb discusses emotional illness, with the lyrics, “And I can’t sleep, And I can barely breath … Do you ever feel that the room is heavy?” Double-tracked vocals give the chorus a vertiginous demeanor appropriate to the mood, as does the sliding, soaring lead guitar riff on the verse. Similarly, “Shadow of a Doubt” describes an isolated person in unrelenting nervousness. It erupts into a chorus begging for a respite from a siren in their head: “Can you help me stop the screams?”

“A Wreck (A Mess)” is about domestic abuse, in which the female narrator blames herself for being the target of male aggression. But Chubbs’s songs never sound preachy or opine easy bromides as answers for societal ills. The song is filled with nervously repetitive rhythms, gearing up to a chorus in which the narrator loses her moorings. The sentimentality found too often in the media is drenched from the song, leaving its victim isolated, with quiet feedback lulling to end it with a sense of foreboding. “Cathedral” addresses “Catholic guilt,” with a young woman being shamed about relationships and sexuality. Once again, the narrator fights back, unrepentant and willing to call out hypocrisy where she sees it.

The recording closes with the title track, which details the perseverance necessary to survive the previously detailed traumas. “I gave it all, But you were never happy ... If I took my life, would you be happy?” Chubb screams. But the outro is, from a musical standpoint, surprisingly gentle, even hushed. It closes, “I’ve always had the willing, Now I’ll find the way, Any habit can be broken, Any night can become day.” The narrator’s desire for transformation reveals a hopeful, but tenuous ending to an emotionally fraught and musically ironclad journey. One wishes more concept albums were so authentic.

Christian Carey

[chaunceyandchumleysdad]

I'm kicking off the weekend with my new favorite band from Dublin, Sprints, from their recently released debut album, Letter To Self.

"Can I please be an Up and Comer!"

[turnupthevolumebelgium]

ALBUM OF THE WEEK

SPRINTS

[thelastmixedtape]

The Last Mixed Tape Podcast | Idles Tank album review plus music from Trophy Wife, Houseplants & more

The Last Mixed Tape Podcast | Idles Tank album review plus music from Trophy Wife, Houseplants & more

Steve reviews the Idles fifth studio album Tangk and the Conte of Monte Playlisto offers new music in the shape of Trophy Wife, Houseplants, Pinkslips, Laytha and Rowdy Outsider. The Last Mixed Tape Spotify Submissions

[spilladabalia]

Sprints - Shadow Of A Doubt

[sinceileftyoublog]

Riot Fest 2024 Preview: 5 Cant'-miss Non-headliners

St. Vincent; Photo by Alex Da Corte

BY JORDAN MAINZER

Emo Friday, indie rock Saturday, metal Sunday seems to be the theme of this year's Riot Fest--at least for the bands in the big fonts on the poster. Of the bands previewed here, you've got your pop-punk farewell, your art rock heavyweight, and your post-punk up-and-comers, but also the finest of the alt-country and hip hop worlds today. Yes, I'm fully aware that two of them overlap, but who's to say you can't go half and half? Here are 5 can't-miss non-headliners.

FRIDAY

Sum 41, 6:05 PM, Cabaret Metro Stage

"I don't wanna believe that maybe this is the end," Deryck Whibley sings on "Landmines", a standout from Sum 41's eighth and final album Heaven :x: Hell (Rise). On the contrary, Whibley's been pretty publicly okay with hanging it up, and I have to imagine it's in no small reason due to the strength of the record, two discs that, respectively, dive into the pop punk of the band's early years and the more metal-adjacent sounds of their more recent releases. It's as if Sum 41's released a greatest hits album of their various aesthetics. The first disc, Heaven, opens with "Waiting on a Twist of Fate", an impassioned blast that Sum 41 can still do as well as anybody, and doesn't slow down for the majority of its runtime. Even the songs where Whibley expresses ennui are ripe for rousing singalongs, from the barnburner "Future Primitive" to the stadium-sized "Dopamine". The band sounds as exciting as ever; the interplay between Dave Baksh and Tom Thacker's guitars, and Frank Zummo's rolling drums propel songs like "Bad Mistake".

Impressively, the songs on Hell are no less catchy and perhaps even more dynamic, such as "Over the Edge", whose hardcore verses subside for the hooky chorus and an unexpected piano outro. "I Don't Need Anyone", a song written after the band decided on calling it quits, sports a big, swinging bassline from Jason McCaslin, as if to say, "We might miss playing music, but you're gonna miss the feeling you get when listening to us, more." They even find room to document their penchant for live covers, delivering a fairly straightforward though no less burly version of The Rolling Stones' "Paint it Black".

On closer "How the End Begins", Whibley's perhaps a little more honest than he was at the beginning of the album, singing, "Sometimes I wonder if I have enough to say / Or am I just an echo, a reflection of yesterday." Even if Heaven :x: Hell acts as a proper career retrospective, it's a hell of a time, something the band can be proud of for years to come. Catch them for the last time on Friday night and rap along to the immortal "Fat Lip".

Waxahatchee; Photo by Molly Matalon

Saturday

Waxahatchee, 6:15 PM, Radical Stage

Katie Crutchfield's brand of alt-country might be a stylistic outlier at Riot Fest, but that makes it all the more punk, if you ask me. Leaning into the high and lonesome has resulted in the two best Waxahatchee albums so far, 2020's Saint Cloud and this year's impressive Tigers Blood (Anti-). Hearing her and her venerable band play these songs, at golden hour? That's unbeatable.

St. Vincent, 6:35 PM, Cabaret Metro Stage

On St. Vincent's first self-produced album All Born Screaming (Total Pleasure), the oft-acting singer adopts her boldest persona yet: herself. Throughout the record, she sings about loss, grief, and the art of keeping on, with a sense of brutal honesty we haven't yet seen from Annie Clark. "Give it all away cause the whole world's watching you," she sings on groovy opener "Hell Is Near", ditching the idea of role atop swirls of syncopated synth layers, dramatic piano, and hypnotic twelve-string guitar. What she cares about most is being subsumed by the music--well, that, and you being subsumed by her music, Clark embedding herself in your ears, like on the slinky, whip-cracking "Flea", rife with her trademark guitar squalls.

Part of Clark's comparatively straightforward communication, though, is letting us know when she's struggling. On "Reckless", she's shaken by the idea that those she loves will one day be gone: "Hey, ma, I'm cracking up," she sings, her usual assured baritone morphing into a creaky falsetto. She uses industrial beats and repetition of phrases to mirror emotional states of panic or release, screaming over and over "What are you looking at?" during the outro of "Broken Man", ending the title track by consistently chanting "all born screaming" beside skittering drums and a propulsive synth line. At the same time, All Born Screaming still finds time for uplift. "Violent Times", laden with David Ralicke's cinematic horns, is a tribute to finding love and practicing art amidst societal chaos. And the gorgeous "Sweetest Fruit", a salad of synaptic synths, galivanting drums, and twangy electric guitars, is dedicated to queer creators like SOPHIE and political cartoonist Daniel Sotomayor who passed away far too young. Clark has spoken about how the act of screaming is a sign that you're alive. As such, All Born Screaming shows a newfound appreciation for her earthbound world.

Live, expect to hear much of All Born Screaming, plus standouts from St. Vincent's previous five or so records.

SPRINTS

Sunday

SPRINTS, 1:20 PM, Cabaret Metro Stage

They don't even have to begin their set with "Ticking", and SPRINTS are still guaranteed to keep you on the edge of your seat from start to finish. Yes, that song's build up of guitar, snare, and chanted vocals exemplifies the apex of the Dublin quartet's live intensity, but any of the hard-charging tunes on Letter to Self (City Slang), their terrific debut album, could introduce you to their urgent world. With SPRINTS, lead vocalist Karla Chubb sings about self-acceptance and love in the face of a world that stigmatizes depression and discriminates against queer folks, and she's got the might of Colm O'Reilly’s lead guitar, Sam McCann's groovy bass, and Jack Callan’s meaty drums to back her up. SPRINTS play early, and they might not play to a packed crowd, but everyone will leave a fan.

Tierra Whack, 5:00 PM, Rise Stage

Tierra Whack has been one of the most exciting figures in hip hop for the past half-decade. Her first major statement, her debut mixtape Whack World, consisted of 15 minute-long, world-building vignettes, each accompanied by a video. Her first three EPs introduced her as someone unafraid to blur genre lines, questioning the usefulness of such divisive tags to begin with. (They were appropriately titled Rap?, Pop?, and R&B?) Earlier this year, Whack finally released her debut studio album World Wide Whack (Interscope), and it's a proper emotionally complex follow-up to the identity struggles of Whack World. Sure, she flexes her rapping prowess and overall aura. "I make a dollar every time that my heart beats," Whack declares on "MS BEHAVE"; on "CHANEL PIT", she claims that--yes--at her concerts, the "mosh pit smell like Chanel." Much of World Wide Whack, though, is melancholy, delving into her anxiety and struggles with friendships and relationships. The nervous R&B of "BURNING BRAINS" is the sound of sensory overload, complete with pitch-shifted, molasses sweet, indecipherable backing vocals. On "IMAGINARY FRIENDS", built around a surf rock guitar line and minimal drums, she sings, heartbreakingly, " My last best friend, said he wish he didn't know me / His name was Oscar and he really hurt my feelings / When I grow up I want to hang from a ceilin'."

Whack often spits around understated, minimal production, and she references suicidal thoughts numerous times throughout World Wide Whack. But the album is not defeatist; instead, it's a statement of triumph despite her troubles. On "27 CLUB", talking through her ideations, Whack almost acts like her own guardian angel, showing herself what life would be like if she were gone. And the most joyous song on the record is "SHOWER SONG", a slice of Southern-fried synth funk about the joys of--you guessed it--singing in the shower. She adopts a nasal vocal style as if to emphasize her carefree attitude towards how she sounds, a moment where the ultimate curator is instead finding strength in her vulnerability.

It does take a good curator to put together an unforgettable live hip hop set, and Whack's likely to cull from her instant classic mixtape and new record at Riot Fest. Whether her mosh pit will smell like Chanel? To be determined.

[fortherecordpodcast]

For the Record #205: SPRINTS' "Letter to Self"

SPRINTS are the latest exports from Dublin's burgeoning punk and garage rock scene. We discuss their ferocious debut album "Letter to Self" in-depth on episode #205 of "For the Record."

Episode link: https://fortherecordpodcast.com/podcasts/media/2024-02-23-ftr-episode-205-sprints-letter-to-self.mp3

Subscribe to the podcast by clicking here for iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/for-the-record-with-gg-and-adam/id943710156, or by copying and pasting this XML feed into your favorite podcatcher’s "subscribe" field: http://fortherecordpodcast.com/podcasts/feed.xml

Or tune in to BFF.fm to hear us every other Thursday at 9:30am!

[thejoyofviolentmovement]

New Video: Dublin's SPRINTS Confront Imposter Syndrome with Furious Ripper "Up and Comer"

New Video: Dublin's SPRINTS Confront Imposter Syndrome with Furious Ripper "Up and Comer" @sprintsmusic @CitySlang @riotactmedia @Ellius_Grace

Dublin-based punk outfit SPRINTS — Karla Chubb (vocals, guitar), Colm O’Reilly (guitar), Jack Callan (drums) and Sam McCann (bass) — formed back in 2019. And since their formation, the Irish quartet have developed a reputation for crafting an abrasive brand of punk rock, influenced by early Pixies, Bauhaus, Siousxie Sioux, King Gizzard, Savages, and LCD Soundsystem. Their first two EP’s, 2021’s…

[radiofauxshow]

Radio Faux Show Volume 4, Number 1: Sprints - Letter To Self (Album Review)

After 3 years of writing about music in the Radio Faux Show, the most obvious thing I have not done is write stand-alone album reviews. It may be time to change that, so I am going to start writing some reviews and see how it goes. My gut says that I should spend 2024 focusing much of my time on new music by female artists. The older I get, the less interested I am in listening to white dudes…

[fard-rock-blog]

SPRINTS | Letter to Self

Etichetta: City Slang Tracce: 11 – Durata: 39:39 Genere: Rock Sito: sprintsmusic.com  Voto: 8/10 Dopo due promettenti EP (Modern Job del 2022 e Manifesto del 2023) gli SPRINTS di Dublino consegnano la prima grande sorpresa del 2024 con un album, Letter to Self, destinato a lasciare il segno. SPRINTS sono un quartetto con la passione per il rock ruvido e classico del secolo scorso. La voce solista…

[unissonmag]

FLASH: LETTER TO SELF – SPRINTS

Le très attendu premier album de SPRINTS, Letter to Self, vient de sortir. Une sortie explosive qui démarre l’année du groupe sous les meilleurs auspices. Review. Continue reading Untitled

[thelastmixedtape]

The Last Mixed Tape Podcast | Irish Acts Boycott SXSW 2024, Fight Like Apes Cover ‘Black Boys On Mopeds’, Havvk ‘To Fall Alseep’ Album Review

This week Irish artists have boycotted SXSW 2024 due to US Military sponsorship and in solidarity with Palestine, Fight Like Apes cover Sinead O’Connor’s classic Black Boys On Mopeds, Havvk’s third album To Fall Alseep review and additions to TLMT’s Spotify Playlist. The Last Mixed Tape Podcast is hosted by Stephen White and is available in all the usual podcasting places and spaces. The Last…