Splinter is the second full studio album from Sneaker Pimps. Released in 1999, Splinter is the first release from the band without Kelli Dayton singing lead vocals; she was replaced by founding band member Chris Corner.
Track listing
"Half Life"
"Low Five"
"Lightning Field"
"Curl"
"Destroying Angel"
"Empathy"
"Superbug"
"Flowers and Silence"
"Cute Sushi Lunches"
"Ten to Twenty"
"Splinter"
"Wife by Two Thousand"
"Diving" (Japanese Bonus Track)
"Unattach (Japanese Bonus Track)
The sound of the album was a great change from their first album. Most notably it was a darker sound which favored acoustic guitars and dark lyrics and notably the male vocals.
There are rare alternate versions of the album that circulate which contain only instrumental versions of the songs.
A live version of the album was available on Scottish TV in the year 2000 through the TV show 'Boxed Set' which has been uploaded to YouTube in HD.
The 'Bonus Tracks' that did not make the album are called; 'Diving' and 'Unattach' (found on the blue fonted 'Low Five' CD single) also there is 'Virgin' and 'Perfect One' (found on the grey fonted 'Ten To Twenty' CD single)
(The font colour of the CD singles depends on what tracks are on them, for 'Low Five' if the font is orange it contains remixes. For 'Ten To Twenty' if the font is blue it also contains remixes.)
The album was released on LP in 1999, then in 2008 a double, heavy weight, DMM mastered vinyl LP, limited to only 1000 copies world wide was re-released and distributed by 'One Little Indian Records' - there were limited releases on cassette (mainly in Turkey) but as the 90's was coming to an end, they were in limited runs.
The album took almost a year to make and was mostly recorded in the bedroom.
Many fans consider the album to be widely underrated with poor sales and very little media or critical attention as the media expected the same sort of style and sound as their first album 'Becoming X'. In an interview they stated 'It is distinctively different, the obvious thing being the male vocal, but there are sounds that are deep rooted in the music which are still 'Sneaker Pimps' you can tell straight away and if you couldn't then you never really liked it in the first place so you didn't understand it in the first place'.[citation needed]
The cover of the album features the back of Chris' head. He had previously not felt up to the responsibility of being a 'front man' but has since gone on to embrace this through IAMX. Some speculate whether 'Becoming X' and 'IAM-X' mean that Chris Corner is where he wants to be in life, whether this is just a coincidence, it is not yet known.
During the 'Splinter' and 'Bloodsport' era, Julian Barratt from 'The Mighty Boosh' would often play live with the band. Noel Fielding also from the 'Mighty Boosh' posed with Chris Corner in a photo-shoot replicating Roxy Music's 'Country Life' album.
The song 'Empathy' samples Kronos Quartet's songs; 'Uleg-Khem' and 'Laengdans Efter Byfans Mats'.
