“Pairing post-punk’s staccato vocal delivery with the raw vitality of electronic music” DIY Magazine
“A sheer bombardment of energy” NME
“A riotous ball of whipping punk energy” Dork Magazine
Belfast post-punk/electronic risers Chalk announce ‘Conditions II’ EP, set for release March 1st via Nice Swan Records (Sports Team, Pip Blom, English Teacher) and share gripping new single ‘Claw’ (video here), out today (January 17th).
Fresh from winning ‘Best Live Act’ at NI Music Prize 2023, Chalk relentless ascent continues to gather thrilling pace, with EP lead single ‘The Gate’ landing on the BBC 6 Music playlist (alongside PJ Harvey, IDLES, Sampha) to kick off 2024, whilst widespread praise throughout the press community (The Independent, NME, DIY, Dork, So Young, The New Cue, Rough Trade, Consequence of Sound) has certainly positioned the trio at the very forefront of the emerging indie elite.
Inspired by the ferocity and live performance of Dublin’s guitar scene, coupled with the sweaty, hardcore dance landscape in their native Belfast, Chalk have already sold out multiple dates throughout the UK and Europe in the last twelve months, including much-lauded slots at the likes of Reeperbahn Festival and Beyond The Music. With 2024 promising to become even busier on the live front, the three-piece are primed to head stateside for their debut appearance at SXSW in March, before their biggest UK headline tour to date later that month.
Speaking ahead of their second EP reveal, enigmatic bandleader Ross Cullen explained: “Claw is about falling in love inside a nightmare. There’s a mixture of loss and relief that we wanted to capture. Subconscious feelings are at the crux of most of our tracks – something that we started on Conditions EP. We still feel like we’re in that universe of figuring ourselves out as people and using our sonic palette to make sense of it. There’s still a few feelings we want to explore and staying in the world of Conditions is something we’ve grown to enjoy – we don’t want to leave just yet”.
Produced by Chris Ryan (NewDad, Enola Gay, Just Mustard) and Ross Cullen, Chalk’s ‘Claw’ is out now via Nice Swan Records and available on all digital platforms.
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