Dublin punk outfit SPRINTS delve into their bold, broody and bohemian new album, All That Is Over, track-by-track.

From the quiet drama of opener Abandon to the heady distortion of “Rage” and the sharp sincerity of closer “Desire”, SPRINTS’ new album is a piercing and punky delight. The Dublin quartet have built quite a reputation over the past few years with a series of barn-storming releases, but this fresh record All That Is Over takes the biscuit. Moody yet at times playful, full of striking production choices and sharp lyrical musings, the work is as intricate as it is incessantly listenable.

“Our sophomore album was born, albeit quickly, between voice notes, plane scribblings, sound checks and rare moments of escape at home between a hectic year of touring,” Karla, vocalist of SPRINTS, tells Wonderland. “We’ve pulled from a lot of new references and influences on this one, including Cowboy Ballads, Portishead and our favourite gaming world, Fallout.” 

Karla takes us through the impressive album, one track at a time.

Listen to All That Is Over…

Read the track-by-track…

“Abandon”

“Abandon” was the last song we wrote for the record, and was crafted literally 2-3 days before we flew for album recording. I wanted to make sure we had something that sonically set up the world and themes we were about to step into – set the landscape, start the page, and let the rest unfold. I think the Portishead and Massive Attack influence is pretty obvious in this one but it’s generally a track about growth, moving on and not feeling at home in your home anymore, a feeling that becomes all too familiar when you’re on the road 80% of the year.

“To The Bone”

This is the first track I ever worked with Zac on for what would then become the album. I was listening to a lot of ambient music at the time, a by product of reading more on tour, and really wanted a song that took in the textures and atmospheres of the world. I asked him to add some weird shit and guitar noise to the song and low and behold that’s how we got our hands on an ebow. It’s basically a magnet that shakes the guitar string in a Cello/Violin type sound.

“Descartes”

“Descartes” was written on a plane while reading Outline by Rachel Cusk. Sparked directly from the line “Vanity is the curse of our culture”, the rest of the song spilled out of me quite instantaneously. Descartes explores the idea of needing to write and create as a means of survival, not just a means of expression, and how important that is to me as a person to try to understand and process the world around me. As the world around us descends into chaos I think it’s more vital than ever that we turn to community and the arts to persevere.

“Need”

This is a pretty fun one and we’re super excited for people to hear it. Sonically, it’s a pretty straight forward punk/rock track. We definitely pulled some inspiration from Le Tigre with the telephone backing vocal and textures. The video is probably going to be the most interesting part of this track. Steven Ogg (who plays Trevor in GTA5) has always followed us on Instagram. We had the random idea to get him to lipsync/film some random shit to a track of ours and he ended up doing it for this. It’s chaotic and perfect.

“Beg”

This is the song I wanted to be the first single of the album – I think sonically and thematically it holds all of the elements of the new album. There’s some synths and textures, literary references and I’d even say a touch of a disco drum groove when it kicks in. Lyrically it’s pulled from a poem by Vladimir Holan, a Czech poet whos book I picked up in a charity shop while waiting for a train. Serendipitous.

“Rage”

Myself and Sam are big Dandy Warhols fans. I remember in Lockdown he showed me the film they have with BJM ‘Dig’ for the first time. We wanted to replicate some of that desert, garage energy on the album on this felt like the perfect track for it. It’s heavily inspired by current events – how people in power will point the finger at refugees, immigrants to blame for our society’s problems instead of the billionaires bleeding the work force, and our economy dry.

“Something’s Gonna Happen”

I honestly can’t wait to play this track live when people get to know it. It’s a powder keg of a track. I feel like because I can’t even remember doing it in the studio which means it probably came together quite seamlessly. There’s a couple tracks we road tested before the studio, and this was one of them, so that definitely helps you get the track down quicker. It’s all about greed, desire and wanting. Feeling like you’ve earned a shot or a break but it keeps slipping out of your grasp.

“Better”

The label think this track is going to be our ‘Maps’ haha. We’ll see how that turns out.

An old demo that was brought back in conversation by Sam, and backed by Zac, It’s inspired quite heavily by MBV, especially the loveless album and has touches of “Big Dreams” by Amyl and the Sniffers.

“Pieces”

Pieces was a song that strangely came together in a dream. Sam had been messing around with that repetitive rolling riff in rehearsals, and I woke up one day with it rummaging around my head and forming a structure. We played it that day in rehearsals and we all started adding pieces to it, inspiring the Bits and Pieces line, and Zac giving us some System of A Down/QOTSA style breaks and pushes and pulls.

“Coming Alive”

Coming Alive has in some shape or form existed as a song for probably two to three years. Something about that guitar riff always stuck with me, but it never quite sat right, whether it was structurally, melodically or lyrically.

I think it was Sam who brought it back into conversation around recording time, referencing the old demo and I went home and sat with it. For whatever reason something that day just clicked. I took the hook and chords and reworked a structure and the lyrics fell out – a half mumbling monologue that was just me completely venting my struggles at the time. The ending of a relationship, relentless touring, loneliness, insecurity and the fear of change. It was me just being my most honest and raw self, and it stuck.

“Desire”

Is this our magnum opus? It’s definitely the band’s favourite song on the album. It was initially due to be scrapped from the recording session as we didn’t really gel with the song in its original sound or structure. Something about it didn’t feel right and the original demo is a million miles away.  However, at the last minute, I think the day before we flew to the studio, that cowboy gothic idea fell into place across some of the other tracks and started to seep in here too. In a last minute rehearsal we completely winged a new vibe and structure with more spaghetti western and nylon guitar, and the entire song changed, for the better.

It’s a song about allowing yourself to completely fall into feelings, lust, love and passion. To let the freight train hit you head on and continue to become all consumed by your desire.