Dublin band SPRINTS had a roaring start to 2024 with the release of their debut album Letter to Self, scoring a Top 20 hit in the UK and rave reviews all over, and have kept that momentum going with firebrand festival sets. Even the amicable departure of founding member Colm O'Reilly in May hasn't slowed them down.
Out today, "Feast" is their first single to feature new guitarist Zac Stephenson, and showcases a new side to SPRINTS that ventures beyond the garage-punk thrills of Letter to Self and into more intriguing territory.
As singer and guitarist Karla Chubb says in an accompanying press release, “It’s like we've burnt everything to the ground, and we're building it back up again exactly how we want to," adding:
"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?’”
Produced by Gilla Band's Dan Fox and recorded at the same Dublin studios where SPRINTS made their first two EPs, "Feast" is inspired by gothic fiction, body horror, and the poetry of Mary Oliver, and gets its name because it "explores the idea of gluttony, consumption and desire, particularly when it comes to sexuality and romance."
As Chubb explains:
"In Ireland a lot of our first conscious experience of storytelling happens to be religious, due in most parts to the interlinking of our Catholic Church and state, particularly in education. The Bible stories and fables of good, bad, morality and sin were always pressed upon us. I thought it was interesting to use this iconography and imagery reimagined in a queer context."
Watch the Niamh Bryson-directed video for "Feast" below:
Following an appearance at Chicago's Riot Fest this past weekend, SPRINTS kick off their second headline US tour of the year in Cambridge, MA, tomorrow (25 September). Then, after a couple of weeks off, they're back out on the road for a tour of Europe that runs through to mid-December, including their biggest show to date at London’s O2 Forum Kentish Town on 13 November.
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