After years of moving between bands, collaborations, family life, and different chapters of his creative career, Adam Rubenstein is stepping back into the spotlight with Firebreak, his first solo album in ten years. Released today through Spartan Records, the record arrives as a deeply personal continuation of a musical journey that began decades ago.
Listen to the Firebreak LP: https://spr.tn/firebreak
For Rubenstein, reinvention has never been optional. His history stretches from his days with influential Midwest hardcore act Split Lip to the evolution of Chamberlain, a band whose melodic approach helped push post-hardcore toward new emotional and musical territory. Yet Firebreak isn’t an attempt to recreate any of those earlier eras. Instead, it reflects an artist looking at everything that came afterward and figuring out what still needs to be said.
The album is the product of years of accumulated songwriting rather than one concentrated creative explosion. While Chamberlain remained an important part of Rubenstein’s musical life including the band’s 2019 return with Red Weather after a 21-year gap—his solo material continued developing quietly in the background. Then life changed.
A move from New York City to Cincinnati disrupted the routines Rubenstein had known for years and unexpectedly created the space necessary to return to those unfinished songs. What initially felt like an unwanted upheaval ultimately became the catalyst for Firebreak.
The album began taking shape in New York, where Rubenstein recorded with a live group that included Pete Wilhoit of Fiction Plane on drums, Matt Beck of Matchbox Twenty handling multiple instruments, and bassist Jeremy Nesse. Those early sessions brought an immediacy to the songs before Rubenstein relocated and completed much of the record himself inside a Cincinnati basement studio.
That contrast band energy versus solitary creation is one of Firebreak‘s defining characteristics. The performances have a sense of movement and spontaneity, but there’s also an unmistakable intimacy in the way Rubenstein ultimately shaped the record.
Upcoming Tour Dates:
SEPTEMBER
05 – Indianapolis, IN @ The 808
06 – Cincinnati, OH @ Northside Tavern
OCTOBER
17 – Boonton, NJ @ Hidden Tracks
19 – New York, NY @ The Mercury Lounge
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