Crystalpunk

Irish duo Chalk’s full-length debut LP, Crystalpunk, speaks directly to the upbringing and roots of the band members – award-winning musicians and filmmakers Ross Cullen [vocalist and producer] and Benedict Goddard [multi-instrumentalist and director] The beauty, confusion, complexity, and intensity of their youth – lived under the shadow and around the scars of conflict – are entangled in the industrial dance-punk hybrid encoded in the record’s DNA, aptly entitled Crystalpunk. Coming from dissimilar backgrounds and rallying together naturally, Ben and Ross first crossed paths in film school. As the story goes, Ben had noticed a framed poster of Dublin disruptors Gilla Band in one of Ross’s Instagram photos and felt a kinship before ever actually speaking to him. “Nobody else at our school was into experimental noise guitar bands, so that was all I needed to see,” laughs Ben. Emerging in 2022, Chalk initially made waves with songs like “Them,” “Velodrome,” and “Static.” Ultimately, they come-of-age and tell a story that resonates beyond borders. Not just a portrait of the band, but one of their home, a complicated place where the sacrifices made and risks taken by activists, artists, ravers and punks created the only environment that a band like Chalk could emerge from. Crystalpunk is not about choosing a side, it’s about choosing the future.