‘Manifesto’ is the latest single to be released from the rapidly growing Dublin 4 piece, and further cements their place as one of Ireland’s most exciting new acts. Sonically, SPRINTS sound like an arena-slaying band who could bring their darkly theatrical performances to the biggest stages. Daniel Fox of Girl Band has been working with them since their inception in early 2020 and is credited as producer for each track on this beautifully crafted EP.

The band manifested their relationship with Daniel Fox after being fans of the noise, garage and punk scene in Dublin for years, before edging their way in with brilliant song-writing.

Karla Chubb, lead singer and songwriter, started bedroom singing and song-writing in her late teens. By her early 20’s Karla met current bandmates Colm O’Reilly (guitar) and Jack Callan (drums) and they had a short-lived indie project together. In 2018, Colm and Jack’s childhood friend – Sam McCann (bass); prolific on the fuzz pedal – joined them to bring that maelstrom that would edge them into the hallowed Dublin scene (think Silverbacks, Fontaines DC), and SPRINTS was born.

Sprints’ clarity in what they wanted to achieve stems also from needing to orchestrate a sound that would be a fit for Karla’s emotive lyrics, which tackle some brutal issues fearlessly and articulately.

Speaking of ‘Manifesto’, she says:

“Manifesto is all about control, and the seeming lack of it we have sometimes – control over our own lives, our own bodies, our own societies. Written during the time of the Repeal the 8th referendum in Ireland, it’s a call for equality.

Life can feel like it’s unravelling around you. We see our countries fall in and out of economic crisis, we see the homeless crisis worsen by the day, we see the rapid rise of addiction and drug problems, and nothing is being done about, yet when it comes to telling women what they can do with their own bodies, that’s when people (the bigots) step in and show up? It baffled me.

Manifesto is about turning your cheek to the critics and bigots and those who judge and doubt, to try shake the shackles of everyday existence and mundanity and go carve your own path. “

Meanwhile, the EP’s other three tracks don’t disappoint. When it drops next year, you’ll be greeted by the unhinged chaos of preceding single; ‘Drones’, ‘Swimming’ a leather-clad BRMC-esque tale of alienation and poverty, and ‘Ashley’ is a philosophical banger dealing with simulation and obsession.