Sprints showcases evolving sound with debut album ‘Letter to Self’
Sprints’ debut full-length album, ‘Letter to Self’, is an extraordinary work of art.
Photo by Niamh Barry
The guitar heavy, grungy sound produced by this quartet feels both like a blast from the past and like the most current vibe. The band itself formed in 2019, not long before the lockdowns started, and is composed of vocalist Karla Chubb, bassist Sam McCann, drummer Jack Callan and guitarist Colm O’Reilly.
The quiet frenzy of creating under strict restrictions is palpable— Letter to Self is full of unhinged energy and lyrically very self-aware, at times breathtakingly so.
Photo by Niamh Barry
“Mother, father
I'm sorry to say my disposition lives another day
You're not gonna be happy
Are any of us happy?”; begins one of the album’s strongest tracks, Cathedral, which feels like a reckoning with Ireland's catholicism. And it asks important questions of any listener, because are any of us truly happy?
One can imagine playing this album in their room, alone and angry, power walking through the rain to it to help release the feelings, or listening to the band live at the venue and losing the collective mind to the fury of its sound. Chubb’s voice and rage is perceptible and is a reminder of PJ Harvey and Fiona Apple.
There are some less heavy tracks here too that serve like a breather but it’s at their punkiest, wildest, loudest that Sprints’ album truly shines.