SPRINTS — Need

JUL 01 2025 · 12:00

SPRINTS — Need (2025) Director: Niamh Bryson Era: Post-Punk Revival / Irish Guitar Resurgence (2025) - Second wave of Dublin noise-rock prominence, aligned with Sprints' sophomore album cycle on Sub Pop/City Slang, within a broader global moment of politically-charged indie punk High curatorial value as a document of the 2025 Irish post-punk surge at its commercial and critical apex. The video's quantitative profile — 171 cuts, 1.02s average shot length, near-monochrome warmth — constitutes a textbook example of 2020s punk video grammar. As a final pre-album single visual, it encapsulates SPRINTS' confrontational identity and the aesthetic consistency of their All That Is Over campaign, making it a key artefact for both genre and era archival purposes. Context: SPRINTS' 'Need' sits within the 2025 Irish post-punk resurgence — a broader guitar-band renaissance emanating from Dublin that includes Fontaines D.C., The Murder Capital, and Girl Band/Gilla Band. Released as the final pre-album single on 25 September 2025, 'Need' arrives from All That Is Over, SPRINTS' sophomore record on Sub Pop (North America) and City Slang (worldwide), produced by Daniel Fox of Gilla Band. Reviewers described it as a 'speedy, bouncy track' that satirises the sexualisation and dismissal of women in rock. The video's rapid editing pace, muted warmth, and high-contrast rawness visually translate the band's confrontational live energy, reflecting both their feminist punk stance and their emergence as one of Ireland's most prominent live acts, following tours of the UK, Europe, and North America and a sold-out show at London's O2 Forum Kentish Town. Director notes: No source directly credits a specific director for the 'Need' official video. However, Niamh Bryson is the confirmed director of at least two other official videos from the same album campaign ('Descartes' and 'Better'), making her the most probable director for this video. The Sub Pop press release for the album release on 26 September 2025 lists 'Descartes', 'Rage', 'Beg', and 'Better' as the official singles, with 'Need' described by reviewers as 'the final single, released just a day before the album.' The video's aesthetic — desaturated, warm-toned, high-contrast, rapid-cut performance footage — is consistent with the visual grammar established across the album's confirmed Bryson-directed videos.