SPLIT CHAIN Release Debut Album ‘motionblur’ Out Today Via Epitaph Records
Hotly-tipped Bristol nu-gaze band, Split Chain, have today released their eagerly anticipated debut album, ‘motionblur’. LISTEN HERE
Speaking of the release, frontman Bert Martinez-Cowles says, “‘motionblur’ is finally out. We’re so unbelievably grateful to everybody that contributed to making this a reality. Whether you’ve streamed our music, supported us behind the scenes or came out to shows and bought merch, we are and always will be eternally grateful. We poured our hearts out and put everything we could’ve into our first record and we genuinely hope that you are all as stoked on it as us. This is for the ones who grew up different, the ones struggling, the ones who feel as though they don’t belong and everyone going through something right now. Things will get better and you will become who you were meant to be.”
To mark the album release, the band have released a music video for new single, ‘SPIT’, of which bassist, Tom Davies, says, “‘SPIT’ is the most personal song I’ve ever written. It’s a deeper dive into my own mental health struggles. It’s me laying my emotions out on the table for people to see, in the hope that their revelation would be the first step in my healing process. I didn’t realize it at the time, but like most people who have issues with addiction, I was using my drinking as a crutch for the bullshit I had going through my mind. When I quit and removed that crutch a lot of those latent issues I had ignored came crashing to the surface. ‘SPIT’ is as much about me describing my struggles as it is catharsis. It’s also a reminder that despite the bullshit that goes through my head sometimes, I’m strong enough to overcome it and do amazing things.”
WATCH THE “SPIT” MUSIC VIDEO HERE
There’s a phrase you’ll hear repeatedly when in the company of Split Chain: “The Chain does what it wants”. As mantras go, it’s used by the Bristol, UK quintet as a means of encapsulating the broad-minded, unconstrained creative freedom with which they approach their art, as well as a means through which to try to make sense of the sky-rocketing trajectory the band have found themselves on.
Call it instinct, fate, divine intervention, whatever – the whims of ‘The Chain’ have led to a moment where one thing is abundantly clear: Split Chain are one of the hottest, zeitgeist-capturing new bands in the world.
“Split Chain is something that none of us feel like we have any control of,” says frontman Bert Martinez-Cowles. “Split Chain simply does what it wants and what it needs.”
It is at this juncture in Split Chain’s journey that debut album motionblur arrives. Described by Bert as “a coming of age story”, the album channels the conflicting and contradictory angst, excitement, joy and pain of growing up and discovering your true sense of self. motionblur presents a story that speaks to both Split Chain’s members’ personal experiences and those shared together in the past few dizzying years; a visceral, kaleidoscopic wall of sound where unsettling, disorientating confusion meets a fevered adrenaline-rush. motionblur is an album to experience, to feel, to engulf; it’s the blissful sense of euphoria that comes with drowning in its waves.
There are shades of the quintet’s beloved Deftones, Superheaven, Narrowhead; bursts of nu-metal, and ripples of shoegaze. An emo melancholy hangs heavy. Grunge swerves in and out of view. Metal crackles under the surface. Its beauty lies in its skillfully crafted coalescence, no mean feat for an album so richly varied yet singularly focused. motionblur is at once a nostalgic homage to its 90s and early 00s cultural reference points while never once sounding anything less than thrillingly vibrant, a captivating depiction of rock’s burgeoning present and future.
As a singular statement, motionblur “is a record that tells you that it’s okay to be your authentic self”, Bert says. “This is the story of what we’ve been through, and this is the story of who we are today. You either let the things you have experienced define you, or you choose a different path. You can be whoever you want to be. If there’s one thing I hope people take from the album, it’s that.”
As for Split Chain themselves, motionblur is another bold step into an unknown of which they could only dream a few short years ago. The Chain, as they say, does what it wants. The key, Bert nods, is continuing to put their faith in its ways, to let their fiercely DIY ethics and purity of creative vision that has served them so well carve the path forward, organically and authentically.
“We let chaos reign,” Bert says. “And we just try to hold on.