Some might say that to be truly great, an album should resonate on first listen. It’s true that there’s a certain magic to those records that instantly light a fire inside you, but there’s also something to be said for those with a more gradual impact.
While last year’s debut ‘Letter To Self’ largely existed in the former camp — a feral exorcism centred around frontwoman Karla Chubb’s struggles with anxiety — the follow-up from Dublin’s Sprints sits comfortably in the latter.
Emerging like a bruise, slowly spreading and eventually becoming impossible to ignore, it’s the type of album that repeatedly reels you in then cuts you loose, never allowing you to anticipate its next move.
A slow-burning drone and steady pulse usher in Chubb’s haunted vocal on opener Abandon, the whole band menacing in their restraint before the wiry, jagged riffs of To The Bone take hold.
From there, the cathartic rush of ‘All That Is Over’ rarely lets up. Post-punk earworm Descartes arrives on a guitar line that’s instantly branded into memory, while Need is underscored by a siren-like motif, circling relentlessly around Chubb’s desperately vulnerable cries of: “I need you.”
Commenting on grief, rage, and resilience through a bleak absurdist lens, it’s an album that thrives on its dualities. Doomed yet hopeful, introspective yet fuelled by the world’s tumult, what makes ‘All That Is Over’ so compelling is its balance of intimacy and scale. The shoegaze shimmer of Better builds into a crushing wall of sound, while the spaghetti western guitar twangs of closing track Desire explode into a Radiohead-esque crescendo.
Arriving so swiftly after their debut, on album two Sprints are bigger, braver, and more adventurous than before. Free from carrying the weight of proving themselves, it’s a record that expands their scope without losing any of their grit and fire. Sharper and more fearless, on ‘All That Is Over’ they vividly capture the disorientation of living through societal collapse, snapping a relentless, uneasy, and vital picture of modern life.
Sprints Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows:
Sun November 02 2025 - BELFAST Empire Music Hall
Wed November 05 2025 - HUDDERSFIELD Parish
Thu November 06 2025 - GLASGOW Galvanizers Yard at at SWG3 - Complex
Fri November 07 2025 - LEEDS Leeds Beckett Students Union
Sat November 08 2025 - MANCHESTER Albert Hall
Mon November 10 2025 - NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE Newcastle University Students Union
Tue November 11 2025 - SHEFFIELD Foundry-Sheff Uni
Wed November 12 2025 - NOTTINGHAM Rock City
Fri November 14 2025 - LONDON Troxy
Sat November 15 2025 - BRISTOL O2 Academy Bristol
Mon November 17 2025 - SOUTHAMPTON 1865
Tue November 18 2025 - OXFORD O2 Academy Oxford
Thu November 20 2025 - DUBLIN Vicar Street
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