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Feb 07, 2024 Web Exclusive By Lee Campbell

Garage-punk band SPRINTS hail from Ireland’s capital city. Spearheaded by guitarist and lead singer Karla Chubb, the Dublin quartet have well and truly screamed onto the blossoming Irish guitar scene following two earlier EPs. Their debut long-player, Letter to Self, was recorded in less than two weeks with Daniel Fox (from Gilla Band) at Black Box Studios in France’s Loire Valley.

The fuse is lit quickly on the opener “Ticking.” It is a tense and fraught beginning. The Pixies influence on the distorted “Heavy” is unapologetically dense. Colm O’Reilly’s guitar piece on “Shadow of a Doubt” is a sonic high-mark coupled with Chubb’s vocal energy channeling her inner Courtney Love.

Chubb’s delivery throughout is full of historic trauma, honesty and fiery perseverance. She is candid about her inner demons with the music serving her as the ultimate catharsis. Case in point, as she sings, “my mind is starved for better days” on her ADHD diagnosis inspired “A Wreck (A Mess).” Alternatively, “Cathedral” explores Chubb’s own bisexual experiences grappling with internalized homophobia. This record is fully alive, no better demonstrated than by the piercing shriek from the depths of Chubb’s lungs on “Literary Mind.”

These guys have toured their asses off since forming in 2019 with songs that are completely relatable to what many of the younger generation have experienced on a mental level in these tumultuous times. It is a blisteringly fierce debut. Now with such a bulging bag of knock-out tunes, the energy and juice will be kicked up another notch into a true Irish fire-cracker of a live show. (www.sprintsmusic.com)

Author rating: 8/10