FEATURING CONTRIBUTIONS FROM FRIENDS INCLUDING CHRIS CARRABBA (DASHBOARD CONFESSIONAL), VERNON REID (LIVING COLOUR), RICHIE BIRKENHEAD (INTO ANOTHER) AND MORE
HEAR THE FIRST SINGLE “STILL” OUT FRIDAY, JUNE 12TH
Adam Rubenstein is proud to announce the forthcoming solo LP Firebreak, due out August 14th via Spartan Records. The album marks the first new solo effort from Rubenstein in a decade, following 2016’s Nightly Waves. Rubenstein has spent decades building a life in music that rarely sits still. From his early work in Midwest hardcore pioneers Split Lip to the long arc of Chamberlain, his voice has been shaped by movement, reinvention, and a refusal to stay pinned to one version of himself for too long. With today’s album announcement, Rubenstein also shares lead single “Still”!
Listen to the lead single “Still
“‘Still’ was one of the last songs written before our studio date,” shares Rubenstein. “My wife and I were in the process of deciding whether or not to relocate to Ohio after two decades living in New York. It’s a song about moving and starting over, and coming to terms with the anxiety around that – building new relationships, and maintaining existing ones. Appropriately the song opens with some brilliant pedal steel played by new pal Travis Talbert (Mavis Guitar, Wussy), recorded here at my new home studio in Cincy.”
While Chamberlain carried the weight of Rubenstein’s rock and roll output (the band’s 2019 album Red Weather was its first in 21 years), his solo work quietly accumulated in the background. Songs stacked up over years spent writing, composing, and raising a family. The idea of making another solo record lingered, but never quite broke through until a sudden move from New York City to Cincinnati forced a reset. What began as a reluctant departure turned into something else entirely. A new environment, a new pace, and just enough distance from the life he had known for two decades created the environment to finally confront the body of work he had been carrying.
Initial sessions in New York captured a live band energy alongside a trusted group of collaborators such as drummer Pete Wilhoit (Fiction Plane), multi-instrumentalist Matt Beck (Matchbox Twenty), and bassist Jeremy Nesse, grounding the songs in immediacy and instinct. From there, Rubenstein completed the album in a basement studio in Cincinnati, working alone to shape the final details. That tension between collective performance and solitary reflection runs throughout the record, giving Firebreak a sense of movement that feels both deliberate and unguarded.
At its core, Firebreak is about change and the uneasy process of learning how to live inside it. Fatherhood, relocation, creative identity, the gloomy state of the world, the passage of time and Rubenstein’s renewed connection to his cousin, late Bar-Kays keyboardist Ronnie Caldwell, all surface in different forms, but the throughline is clear. These songs were not written in a single burst of inspiration. They were lived with, carried, and eventually released.
There are familiar voices woven into the album which trace Rubenstein’s arc from pre-teen Indianapolis guitar wiz to a key architect of the evolution of post-hardcore into something more melodic and satisfying. Living Colour’s Vernon Reid, whom Rubenstein has studied since the late ‘80s, shreds on “Don’t Mean Much,” while former Into Another vocalist Richie Birkenhead reps for the ex-hardcore kids who’ve traded their skate shoes for station wagons and middle age on “To Be Here.” Elsewhere, Dashboard Confessional’s Chris Carrabba harmonizes on “Choosing Sides,” highlighting Split Lip and Chamberlain’s influence over the next generation of singer/songwriters.
“Although Firebreak is primarily a solo effort, it feels a bit like scoring a new film, where I feel extremely lucky to have so many incredible co-conspirators,” admits Rubenstein, who had the chance to play with Reid, bass virtuoso MonoNeon and lone surviving Bar-Kays member James Alexander for his forthcoming movie Soul Sound ‘67 about the former’s band. “Frankly it’s flattering that musicians I respect so much take an interest in my songs in the first place.”
Behind the board, longtime collaborator Derik Lee brings a steady hand shaped by work across Broadway and film, including Hamilton. Together, they help frame a record that feels expansive without losing its center.
