Split Chain are back with their first new music since last year’s debut album motionblur, and “sylvia (i won’t belong to you)” feels like the sound of a band levelling up.
The Bristol nu gaze outfit have been everywhere since dropping their sprawling debut, clocking over 165 million global streams and touring alongside the likes of Landmvrks, Underoath and Counterparts. Now they’re stepping into a new chapter.
Frontman Bert Martinez Cowles says the track was written during a rare quiet moment after their busiest year yet. Back in the “real world” after US tours and the release of their debut, the band found themselves reflecting on why they started in the first place. The result is a track shaped by that uneasy feeling that the world is off balance. Bert describes it as a kind of Truman Show moment, with the title nodding to the character Sylvia. It’s about feeling trapped in something manufactured and wanting out.
If you’ve followed Split Chain’s rise, you’ll know they operate on instinct. Around them you’ll often hear the phrase “The Chain does what it wants,” and right now it feels like that instinct is pushing them somewhere bigger. “sylvia” keeps the emotional weight and atmosphere that defined motionblur, but there’s a sharper edge running through it.
They’re not slowing down either. US dates with The Devil Wears Prada kick off this spring, followed by a run with Soul Blind, a slot at 2000 Trees Festival, and UK shows with Kittie in Manchester and London this summer.
New era. Same hunger. And if this single is anything to go by, Split Chain aren’t done climbing.
