SPRINTS

There’s a palpable flurry of momentum surrounding SPRINTS right now. The Dublin band have enjoyed a whirlwind year: in a blur of back-to-back wins, they unveiled their Top 20 debut album Letter To Self, opened for IDLES and Pixies, and delivered feverishly talked-about sets at Glastonbury, End Of The Road and All Together Now. All of this has led to them becoming an essential new name in contemporary rock, building a reputation for urgent, compassionate songwriting blackened by personal tales of trauma and resilience.

Since the January release of Letter To Self – which received 5* reviews from NME, DIY and Dork, plus acclaim from the likes of Pitchfork and Brooklyn Vegan – the four-piece have taken their visceral live show across the globe. Harnessing the adrenaline of non-stop gigging into new material has resulted in Feast, an intriguing introduction to SPRINTS’ next era and a window into a bold, transformative stage of the band's ascent. 

Drummer Jack Callan describes the single as a “true full-circle moment”, having recorded it at Dublin’s Sonic Studios, also the birthplace of their 2021 EP Manifesto and its follow-up, A Modern Job. Produced by Dan Fox of Gilla Band and penned by guitarist/songwriter Karla Chubb ahead of an extensive festival run, Feast glows with conviction. Inspired by the literary subgenres of gothic fiction and body horror, as well as the subversive poetry of Mary Oliver, it uses pummelling riffs to communicate all the frisson of desire and queer possibility – a sensation bolstered by Chubb’s rich, full-bodied vocal. It’s the type of track that leaves you reeling.

“With all the touring and many changes in our personal lives has come this rediscovery of ourselves, almost like a rebirth,” says Chubb. “But I also like the idea of pursuing passions really unapologetically and what that looks like to other people. It’s like us, as a band, being quite greedy with our ambitions.”

It was there, amid the adrenaline-jolted rhythms of touring life, that Feast was born. This surge of fresh energy was boosted by the introduction of Zac Stephenson (guitar) to the band, now a fully-fledged member of SPRINTS. “It’s like we've burnt everything to the ground, and we're building it back up again exactly how we want to,” Chubb says. “I feel like a completely new person to who I was at the start of the year and Sprints feels like a totally new band. We're fully committed to each other. Since Zac joined, we've turned a page and now we're ready to write an entirely new story. We had to ask ourselves, ‘Where do we want to go next?’”

Chubb and Callan formed Sprints in 2019 alongside Sam McCann (bass) and former guitarist Colm O’Reilly, who left the band amicably in May in order to retreat from public performance. A period of recalibration would follow, in which the remaining members invited Stephenson – who had previously performed with SPRINTS at Brighton’s The Great Escape – to join the group. This major change would prove fruitful timing for an artistic statement as daring as Feast, Chubb explains. “The song came together at a really critical point. There was all this confusion floating around, but it came down to the very simple fact that I knew I was always going to have music, so everything was going to be OK.”

The answer came through reinvigorating SPRINTS’ vision entirely. By leaning into Stephenson’s dynamic playing style, as well as the genre-bending tendencies of recent albums from Feeble Little Horse and punk scene-leaders Mannequin Pussy, the band’s forthcoming material has been set into motion. The early recording sessions have been all about sonic experimentation and tuning into the same frequencies; Callan says he considers his bandmates family, a connection that doesn’t necessarily connote blood, but “collaboration, or most importantly, trust”.

Letter To Self resonated deeply with a fervent, diverse audience for its dark and deeply introspective songs, allowing SPRINTS to light up international stages and see their passion reflected back tenfold. It’s an energy Chubb hopes to carry forward into album two, while also looking to create music that is more concentrated on acceptance and her sense of self.