Released: May 26
Returning to their original home of Island Records for the first time in more than four decades, Sparks deliver avant garde electronic excellence on their latest album ‘The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte’.
The 26th album from the ever-prolific Los Angeles Mael brothers clocks in at 14 tracks and launches with its title song, which also serves as the record’s lead single.
With an underpinning darkness and a brooding sense of urgency that builds throughout, it sets the tone for an album that explores a multitude of soundscapes, each of which exists within its own narrative, set at various places and times.
Veronica Lake reverts to golden years of cinema with a hypnotic ode to the late silver screen icon, while The Mona Lisa’s Packing, Leaving Late Tonight explores one’s place in the world through the eyes of one of the most famous pieces of art in history.
More a series of paintings or vignettes than a collection of songs, every colour is mixed to precision and each brush stroke made with intent, whether it’s to create a sense of urgency on the stirring We Go Dancing or the petulant defiance of Nothing Is As Good As They Say It Is.
Meanwhile, experimental moments like Escalator and Take Me For A Ride deviate from the traditional pop structure and showcase Sparks’ enduring creativity that has sustained throughout their 50+ year career.
While that’s an aspect of their craft that they take seriously, there are several moments of deadpan humour throughout ‘The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte’ – most notably closing track Gee, That Was Fun, which is delivered in straight monotone over drums and piano that perfectly embodies everything we so love about the duo.
Few artists enjoy a career as fruitful as Sparks, let alone sustain such creativity over half a century, but on their latest LP they remain as witty, sharp and brilliant as ever, offering up a body of work that stands bold against the backdrop of their masterful catalogue.
‘The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte’ is out May 26 on Island.
