Adam Rubenstein’s new album Firebreak was released this month via Spartan Records. The album marks the first new solo effort from Rubenstein in a decade, following 2016’s Nightly Waves. Several of Rubenstein’s friends and collaborators lend their talent to the new album; including Chris Carrabba of Dashboard Confessional, Vernon Reid of Living Colour and former Into Another vocalist Richie Beirkenhead among others. Purchase it now here.

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.

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 Ohio 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 Reid, whom Rubenstein has studied since the late ‘80s, shreds on “Don’t Mean Much,” while former Into Another vocalist 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 Caraba harmonizes on “Choosing Sides,” highlighting Split Lip and Chamberlain’s influence over the next generation of singer/songwriters.

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.

Upcoming tour dates below:

SEPTEMBER

05 – Indianapolis, IN @ The 808

06 – Cincinnati, OH @ Northside Tavern

OCTOBER

17 – Boonton, NJ @ Hidden Tracks

19 – New York, NY @ The Mercury Lounge

Photo courtesy of Wes Orshoski.