22. February 2025
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Media Review

Sprints – Letter To Self

Florian Buechtingby Florian Buechting

Sprints - Letter To Self

Sprints - Letter To Self
3.9

Rating

 3.9/5

Flyctory.com Pros

  • Very nice, characteristic punk rock
  • High potential for great stage performance
  • Good dramatic plots

Flyctory.com Cons

  • The songs are a bit too similar.

After I closed the 2023 album review coverage with The Green Machine by Fiddler’s Green, Irish folk rock from Germany, Irish music is also kicking off the new music year 2024. However, the band Sprints are really in fact an Irish band. The garage punk band from Dublin is releasing their debut album Letter To Self on 5th January 2024. I had a listen.

 

Sprints – About The Artists

The Sprints are an Irish punk rock / garage punk quartet. Karla Chubb is the lead singer and songwriter of the band. Her bandmates are Colm O’Reilly (guitar), Jack Callan (drums) and Sam McCann (bass). Despite they have just been formed in 2019, they had quite a lot of success already. Apart from two EP releases (in 2021 and 2022), the band also had quite some successful concert appearances. There will also be European tour appearances soon (see below).

 

Sprints – Letter To Self – Track by Track

The eleven track album lasts 40 minutes.

1. Ticking

The three minute opener is named Ticking – and in fact the drums are “ticking” at the beginning of this song. The Irish go for a dramatic, slowly increasing opener, before the core part of the song kicks off after roughly one minute – and turns into a blast. Nice punk rocker with howling guitar and a memorable plot.

2. Heavy

If you base your expectations about the second song on the character of Ticking, you expect Heavy incepting with a guitar blast. However, the Sprints go for a similar plot like in the song before and first lead into the story of the story, before the energy is almost exploding in the chorus. Kara Chubb has a nice touch for a good plot of her songs.

3. Cathedral

The first moments of Cathedral already feel dark. The grunge touch of the Dublin quartet becomes very obvious, as well as the band’s talent for very dramatic songwriting.

4. Shaking Their Hands

While many songs of the album present a gap between the stanzas and the chorus, Shaking Their Hands is more fluent. It is also a bit more calm then the predecessors. This leads to a nice focus on the lyrics, it feels more relaxed listening to Chubb on the microphone.

5. Adore Adore Adore

With 2:38 minutes, the single release Adore Adore Adore is a rather compact listen on the album. Chubb is asking Do you adore me? and then states They never called me beautiful // They only called me insane in the energetic chorus. A good song with an abrupt ending, which is nonetheless not on my list of favorite listens.

6. Shadow Of A Doubt

Shadow Of A Doubt adds another single release to the album. The song starts with the typical rather quiet and dramatic opening. It takes a while until Colm O’Reilly and Sam McCann can free their instruments and give them full force. However, the song then stays at that level. Cool.

7. Can’t Get Enough Of It

Strumming guitars and a clear drum line drive you into the heart of Can’t get Enough of It. I feel that the song has more potential. The intro is catching and promising. You waitfor the energy, which Sprints are creating in other tracks. Unfortunately, it just does not happen.

8. Literary Mind

The single release Literary Mind is my favorite listen of the album. The song has a nice drive and speed. Nonetheless, it does have the nice plot and breaks which also characterize some of the songs before. With a nice bass line, the song also presents a cool groove.

9. A Wreck (A Mess)

A Wreck (A Mess) moves towards modern indie / alternative rock sounds. This especially leads to a focus on Colm O’Reilly, who can showcase his skills on the guitar. Towards the end of the song, though, the band is back to their good, old sound.

10. Up And Comer

The second last song Up And Comer is also the last song of the album, which is already known to fans of the Irisih band. The narrative stanzas are close to read words. The chorus is then just in line with the songs before.

11. Letter To Self

The title track is closing the album. The song is very dramatic and especially presents some new elements on the instrumental side. The vocals are very present in the powerful parts as well, before the song suddenly stops and closes the album with a quiet coda.

 

Sprints – Letter To Self – Spotify

Here is Letter To Self on Spotify:

 

Sprints – Letter To Self – My View

The press kit to the album states If you saw Sprints live on stage, you will have looked forward to the album. I would contradict – and rather see it vice versa: Letter To Self contains excellent material, which is made for a great punk rock night on stage. Many of the songs will be better in a concert, just because it will make you feel the nice plots and stories told much better. In the studio version, the grunge punk band nonetheless presents a very solid debut. I would love them to move a bit more out of their comfort zone, though.

Favorite Song: Literary Mind

 

Sprints – Tour Dates 2024

With the album release, the Irish band are kicking off a brief small venue tour in London. There are some European dates in February 2024, while they are back un the United Kingdom and Ireland in April. Here are all tour dates:

Fr 05.01.2024 London (United Kingdom) – Rough Trade East
Su 07.01.2024 Brighton – Resident Music
Tu 09.01.2024 Nottingham – Rough Trade Nottingham
We 10.01.2024 Bristol – Rough Trade Bristol
Th 11.01.2024 Dublin (Ireland) – Tower Records
Th 08.02.2024 Rennes (France) – L’Ubu
Fr 09.02.2024 Merignac – La Krakatoa
Sa 10.02.2024 Paris – Point Ephemere
Tu 13.02.2024 Brugge (Belgium) – Cactus Club
We 14.02.2024 Antwerp – Trix
Sa 17.02.2024 Hamburg (Germany) – Molotow
Su 18.02.2024 Berlin – Cassiopeia
Tu 20.02.2024 Munich – Kranhalle
Th 22.02.2024 Groningen (Netherlands) – Vera
Fr 23.02.2024 Rotterdam – Rotown
Sa 24.02.2024 Amsterdam – Paradiso Tolhuistuin
We 03.04.2024 London (United Kingdom) – Heaven
Fr 05.04.2024 Birmingham – Actress & Bishop
Sa 06.04.2024 Manchester – The White Hotel
Su 07.04.2024 Glasgow – King Tuts Wah Wah Hut
Tu 09.04.2024 Brighton – Patterns
Th 11.04.2024 Bristol – Thekla
Sa 13.04.2024 Nottingham – Bodega
Su 14.04.2024 Leeds – Brudenell Social Club
Th 18.04.2024 Limerick (Ireland) – Kasbah Social Club
Fr 19.04.2024 Galway – Roisin Dubh
Sa 20.04.2024 Belfast (United Kingdom) – Ulster Sports Club
Th 25.04.2024 Cork (Ireland) – Coughlans Bar
Fr 26.04.2024 Listowel – Mike the Pies
Fr 03.05.2024 Dublin – Button Factory
Sa 04.05.2024 Dublin – The Button Factory

 

Irish Music

Here are all my Music & Media postings related to Ireland:

 

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