Sparks – ‘The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte’
The American avant-pop duo Sparks have returned once again for the relentlessly intriguing album, The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte. Over the past six decades, the pair have remained impressively prolific and retain a loyal fanbase that appears to grow with each passing year. This is perhaps a testament to Sparks’ thirst for sonic exploration and aversion to antiquation.
In this latest entry to their ever-kooky discographic diary, brothers Ron and Russell Mael have added a few new hits sure to brighten the stage at Glastonbury next month. The album opens on the title track and the LP’s lead single, which arrived at the beginning of March to an avalanche of applause. For me, the track marks one of the record’s least enjoyable moments, with the repeated line bringing very little in the way of artistic depth and much in the way of earworm irritation. Though I hasten to add, the Suicide-style instrumentals were an indication of pleasant things to come.
The upbeat electronic sounds burgeon into ‘Veronica Lake’, a well-composed track with a tumbling frenetic rhythm that suggests the latte is no longer serving as a tear receptacle but rather pumping through Russell’s veins. This energy is taken forth into ‘Nothing Is As Good As They Say It Is’, the album’s first rock offering that harkens back to the 1970s glam-rock scene.
Perhaps most impressively, the album meanders through a disparate range of styles that unexpectedly cohere thanks to Russell’s distinctive vocal and writing style. Often, he’ll ruminate on actions or inanimate objects, such as an escalator, a cup of coffee, dancing or turning pages, as a centre for a wider concept. All the while, Ron brings weather systems to these scenes with the orchestral and cinematic in tracks like ‘It’s Sunny Today’ and ‘The Mona Lisa’s Packing, Leaving Late Tonight’, and the operatic in ‘We Go Dancing’ and ‘Not That Well-Defined’.
To add the final dimension to this delectable orgy of sound, Sparks visit more contemporary dance music pastures. ‘Escalator’ brings a more attractive update to Nintendo soundtracks of the 1990s; ‘You Were Meant For Me’ is the result of asking AI software to create a space-age Suede, and ‘A Love Story’ lands on a hostile dancefloor environment musically, and the in the queue to the club lyrically.
Russell sings: “Hold my place in the queue, you’re so kind/ Gotta buy some drugs for this girlfriend of mine/ Wait here, dear, it’s a hell of a line/I’ll be back with proof that my love is sublime”.
After the album’s dancefloor highlight comes a personal favourite, ‘It Doesn’t Have To Be That Way’. The track arrives on more sentimental shores while retaining the upbeat qualities that permeate much of the album. Returning to a more traditional style, we hear acoustic rhythm guitar before drums, piano, and orchestral strings create due intensity.
The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte bows out to an emotional piano ballad and apt bookend, ‘Gee, That Was Fun’. The song throbs with intensity throughout, with subtle textures accentuating an intermittent drum beat and driving piano progression.
Meanwhile, Russell sings of elusive regrets: “Gee, if I’d known/I’d have been less on my phone/I’d have been more in the zone/ If I had known/ Wish I gave better compliments/ Wish I loved Crime and Punishment/ Should have spent less time watching sports/ Should have improved my quick retorts”.
Sparks have followed up 2020’s A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip with yet another record of bottomless artistry.
Staying true to their Andy Warhol and Salvador Dalí semblances, the duo bring the post-Dada trends of early 20th-century art to the airwaves. Like Warhol prints, their colours are bright and attractive, and like Dalí’s melting clocks, the concepts run far beyond skin depth. To all intents and purposes, this album is an eclectic masterclass in avant-pop exploration.
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