Svalbard
Svalbard

Svalbard streaming great new album, touring UK/EU with La Dispute

Svalbard
Svalbard

UK band Svalbard recently released their sophomore album, It’s Hard To Have Hope, and if you haven’t heard it yet, it’s very worth changing that. It’s heavy-but-beautiful screamo/post-hardcore, cut from a similar cloth as American bands like Modern Life Is War or Touche Amore (the former of whom they just recently toured with), and singer/screamer Serena Cherry takes on some very real social issues in her lyrics, as song titles like “Revenge Porn,” “Feminazi,” and “Unpaid Intern” should make pretty clear. As Ian Cory wrote over at Invisible Oranges:

The best hardcore records are half sparring partner, half motivational speaker. In one breath they will knock the wind out of you, in the next they’ll give you the strength to stand back up. Svalbard don’t pull any punches on their second full length, singing unapologetically about issues of gender with the bluntness of a drill sergeant. Serena Cherry doesn’t sugar coat her message here, in part because she shouldn’t have to but also because she doesn’t need to. Svalbard play with stirring conviction, never faltering into reverb soup or forcing their songs into awkward arrangements. You couldn’t ask for a better record to have in your corner when stepping into the ring with the world’s bullshit.

Indeed — listen and watch a recent video below.

Svalbard have more tour dates coming up (just in the UK and Europe for now), including a just-announced run with another great US band, La Dispute (whose fourth album is on the way), including Bristol fest ArcTanGent, which both bands play alongside Glassjaw, Shellac, Pelican, Pianos Become the Teeth, Rolo Tomassi, Foxing, and more. Svalbard also play London’s Upsurge Festival with Ramallah, Sheer Terror, Counterparts, Take Offense, Harms Way, and more; and other dates. You can view their full schedule below.

La Dispute’s tour also includes a few other festivals and a London show with Tokyo post-rockers Mouse on the Keys. Tour poster below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSomlCJliSY

La Dispute

Svalbard — 2018 Tour Dates
Sat 21 Jul 2018 Tramlines at Sheffield City Hall Ballroom 2018 Sheffield, UK
Thu 26 Jul 2018 Mørtelwerk Leipzig, Germany
Fri 27 Jul 2018 Fluff Fest 2018 Rokycany, Czech Republic
Tue 14 Aug 2018Button Factory Dublin, IE*
Thu 16 Aug 2018 ArcTanGent 2018 Compton Martin, UK*
Sun 19 Aug 2018Stollwerck Cologne, Germany*
Mon 20 Aug 2018Sommer In Altona Hamburg, Germany*
Tue 21 Aug 2018Columbia Theatre Berlin, Germany*
Thu 23 Aug 2018Bitterzoet Amsterdam, Netherlands*
Fri 24 Aug 2018 La Comédia Montreuil, France
Sat 25 Aug 2018 L’Horloge Boulogne Sur Mer, France
Sun 26 Aug 2018 Upsurge Festival 2018 New Cross, UK
Fri 12 Oct 2018 Tunghørt 2018 Stavanger, Norway

* – w/ La Dispute