Debut full-length record from Sipul

Coming out of Rochester in New York, Sipul is an alternative grunge rock outfit featuring the talents of James “Spaz” Spaziani on vocals and guitar, Al Bellanca on bass and Doug Folen on drums. Together, they deploy songwriting as a means of confronting life’s most difficult moments, resulting in music that’s loud, abrasive and truly gripping, balancing impactful guitars with moments of emotion. The band’s story stretches back more than a decade when James and Al first crossed paths in 2013 while performing at the same show, beginning a creative partnership that officially took shape the following year.

Their lineup grew again in 2024 when Doug answered a Craigslist advert searching for a drummer after the band’s previous member stepped away to focus on family life and that new dynamic would soon help power the group’s most ambitious work to date. Sipul first introduced audiences to their sound in 2023 with the debut single “Margarine of Error,” before expanding their catalogue with a trio of additional songs which landed last year.

Those first releases mapped out a sound built on alternative rock, grunge and adventurous songwriting, but they only hinted at the emotional scope of what was still to come. Now, the band arrives with In The Still, their first full-length album and a project that represents far more than simply another collection of songs. It’s an intensely personal body of work informed by genuine struggle, emotional exhaustion and the determination to transform painful experiences into something meaningful.

Writing the album became inseparable from facing an extremely challenging period of life for frontman James; during its creation, he experienced severe mental health struggles that profoundly influenced both the lyrics and the emotional direction of the project. Many of the songs directly reflect feelings of hopelessness, uncertainty and internal conflict but the album ultimately reaches beyond despair to find release through creation, using music as a way of processing overwhelming thoughts.

That therapeutic purpose gives the record incredible emotional context and completing the album marked the end of a significant chapter for its songwriter, representing the result of sustained creative effort alongside the wider work of rebuilding his life. While the music avoids pretending that recovery is simple, it acknowledges that even the darkest moments can eventually give way to something brighter through persistence and determination.

Conceptually, In The Still also explores the fragile relationship between perception and reality, with one of its recurring inspirations coming from an alleged story once shared online describing a man who, after suffering a head injury, believed he had lived nearly a decade inside an alternate reality before noticing a small detail, a lamp, that revealed everything around him to be false. During his own struggles, James found himself returning repeatedly to that idea, imagining the possibility that one day he might simply wake up to discover the pain he was experiencing had never truly existed.

The thirteen-track outing starts with the jaunty bounce of twanging guitar notes before jumping into a lively grunge groove that simmers into a clean verse. Erupting with crunching distortion and belted vocals, it’s an epic showcase of the band’s original songwriting and energising sound. “Eating a Reuben Alone in a DMV Bathroom” flows with the intricate blend of pulsing bass lines, clean guitar flickers and punchy drums capped by expressive vocals to serve up a thrilling garage rock anthem packed full of memorable hooks and raucous rock flair.

“Familiar Stranger” slows things down with woozy guitar tones and laid back percussion as mellow vocal performance glides above to form an atmospheric scene that swells with gritty guitar chords, splashy drums and commanding vocal work. Other highlights on the record include tracks like “Treading Water” with its soft guitar flutters and rolling drums which surges into an engrossing grunge outing stacked with infectious melodic leads delivered via impassioned vocals.

“Ford Nova” frames the band’s songwriting in a more delicate setting that rises with enthralling intensity while “Margarine of Error” offers one of the album’s defining statements, distilling many of these ideas into a single composition. Its spoken-word vocal delivery and distinctive musical approach separate it from much of the surrounding material while capturing the overwhelming sensation of becoming trapped inside one’s own thoughts. Closing the LP with “Better Call It,” the intimate sound of strummed guitar and hushed vocals floats into a rousing riff-driven moment that ends the album with an epic finale.

Listen to In The Still below