SPRINTS

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

 

The dedication for Sprints’ debut album serves as a neat summation of their story so far. Transforming pain into truth, passion into purpose and perseverance into strength, the Dublin four-piece have steadily grown in stature over the last three years, sharing two acclaimed EPs and building a fearsome live reputation opening for the likes of Yard Act and Suede. Letter To Self is the sound of Sprints co levelling up once again, revisiting their most vulnerable moments and imbuing their visceral garage-punk with a palpable sense of catharsis that we can all benefit from.

 

Singer, guitarist and lead-songwriter Karla Chubb has never shied away from confronting inner turmoil. Born in Dublin, she spent a portion of her early childhood in Germany, initially turning to music as a consequence of feeling out-of-step with the world. “I lived in a constant state of existential crisis,” she recalls. “Music became an outlet for emotion, and a way for me to understand myself and society.”

 

The foundations for Sprints were laid when Karla met guitarist Colm O’Reilly and drummer Jack Callan — childhood friends who’d been playing music together since the age of 10. Recruiting bassist Sam McCann to complete the line-up, the quartet found their sound after seeing Savages play Electric Picnic in 2016.

 

“Seeing the energy of Jehnny Beth and those gnarly guitars totally captivated us,” Jack explains. Karla continues, “I’ve always loved anger-fuelled music but I had fallen into the trap of writing what felt least offensive, simply because I saw anger as a negative emotion, rather than something that can be therapeutic and cathartic. [After watching Savages] I decided I don’t really care how I’m interpreted — I’m just going to write exactly what I feel.”

 

Principled and plain-spoken, Karla has always used her platform to address inequality. Debut single ‘The Cheek’ skewered the misogynistic fetishisation she’s experienced as a bi-sexual, while the title track of their 2021 EP Manifesto was inspired by the campaign for Repeal The 8th, and women’s ongoing fight for bodily autonomy. For Letter To Self, the band dug even deeper, transforming so-called “negative energy” into an opportunity for communal catharsis and healing. 

 

If the buoyant love song ‘Literary Mind’ marks the album’s brightest moment, ‘Shadow Of A Doubt’ is unquestionably its darkest. Recorded in three takes, it features a strikingly vulnerable vocal performance punctuated by jagged breaths, and details suicidal thoughts emanating from past trauma. “Can you help me stop the screams?” Karla begs at the song’s climax, as searing guitars crash in waves around her. And yet, with the title track, the album ends on a note of acceptance, seeing Karla celebrating her autonomy in lines like, “I don’t have to take the path that was carved out in front of me.”

 

As she explains, that message lies at the very heart of the album. “No matter what you’re born into, or have experienced, there’s a way to emerge from this and be happy within yourself.” It’s a hard-won truth that the band hope others will be motivated by, inspiring listeners to use pain as fuel for growth, ultimately unearthing a path to seek contentment. For though the route to self-acceptance is anything but easy, with pain, passion and perseverance Sprints are proving that anything is possible.