New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Sparks' 26th studio album, The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte, is out today via Island Records/Universal Music. The album marks Sparks' first release on the venerable label in close to five decades and includes such instantly intriguing new musical vignettes as the title track, the radio friendly "Nothing Is As Good As They Say It Is" "Veronica Lake" and "Mona Lisa's Packing, Leaving Late Tonight" songs which once again display Sparks' seemingly ceaseless ability to craft complete, intricately detailed stories within perfect three-and-a-half minute pop earworms.
All of these songs are characteristically timeless and unequivocally modern as The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte once again affirms that, after more than a half-century making such masterpieces, Sparks remain inimitable, ingenious, and, as ever, utterly one of a kind. The album is described by Ron and Russell Mael as a record that is "as bold and uncompromising as anything we did back then or, for that matter, anytime throughout our career."
Sparks has begun celebrating The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte with an extensive world tour that will see the band playing some of the biggest venues of their incredible career, with highlights including a pair of sold-out headline shows at London's historic Royal Albert Hall (May 29 and 30), performances at 3xPrimavera Festivals and Glastonbury and the biggest headline show of Sparks' more than fifty-year career, taking place on July 16 at the world famous Hollywood Bowl in their beloved hometown of Los Angeles. All tickets are on sale now. For complete details and ticket information, please see allsparks.com.
"We are thrilled to be back on tour again and to be able to share our joy with so many Sparks fans around the world," said Sparks.
SPARKS TOUR 2023
MAY
23 - Oxford, UK - New Theatre Oxford
24 - Liverpool, UK - Liverpool Philharmonic Hall SOLD OUT
26 - Glasgow, UK - SEC Armadillo
27 - Manchester, UK - Bridgewater Hall SOLD OUT
29 - London, UK - Royal Albert Hall SOLD OUT
30 - London, UK - Royal Albert Hall SOLD OUT
JUNE
2 - Barcelona, Spain - Primavera Sound Barcelona
4 - Nimes, France - La Paloma
5 - Marseille, France - Espace Julien
8 - Madrid, Spain - Primavera Sound Madrid
10 - Porto, Portugal - Primavera Sound Porto
13 - Paris, France - Le Grand Rex
14 - Utrecht, Netherlands - TivoliVredenburg, Grote Zaal
16 - Copenhagen, Denmark - Store Vega
18 - Berlin, Germany - Tempodrom
20 - Brussels, Belgium - Cirque Royal
22 - Wolverhampton, UK - The Civic at The Halls
23 - Pilton, UK - Glastonbury
27 - New York, NY, USA - Beacon Theatre
28 - Philadelphia, PA, USA - Keswick Theatre SOLD OUT
30 - Washington, DC, USA - Lincoln Theatre
JULY
1 - Boston, MA, USA - The Wilbur
3 - Toronto, ON, Canada - Danforth
Music Hall SOLD OUT
5 - Chicago, IL, USA - Copernicus Center
6 - Milwaukee, WI, USA - Pabst Theater
8 - Kansas City, MO, USA - Arvest Bank Theatre at The Midland
9 - Boulder, CO - Boulder Theater SOLD OUT
12 - Dallas, TX, USA -
Texas Theatre SOLD OUT
13 - Austin, TX, USA - ACL Live at the Moody Theatre
16 - Los Angeles, CA, USA - Hollywood Bowl †
22 - Tokyo, Japan - duo
Music Exchange
24 - Osaka, Japan - Namba Hatch
25 - Tokyo, Japan - Line Cube Shibuya
* Festival Appearance
† w/ Special Guests They Might Be Giants
For complete details and ticket information, please see allsparks.com/#tour
The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte tracklisting:
1 The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte
2 Veronica Lake
3 Nothing Is As Good As They Say It Is
4 Escalator
5 The Mona Lisa's Packing, Leaving Late Tonight
6 You Were Meant For Me
7 Not That Well-Defined
8 We Go Dancing
9 When You Leave
10 Take Me For A Ride
11 It's Sunny Today
12 A Love Story
13 It Doesn't Have To Be That Way
14 Gee, That Was Fun
Levels of interest in the work of Sparks are at heights unsurpassed in their more than fifty year career, with the ultimate cult band now centrestage in the full beam of the spotlight.
Most people, with even a passing acquaintance with Sparks, will know the basics by now. How Californian brothers Ron and Russell Mael, both students at UCLA, began making music together in the late Sixties, originally under the name Halfnelson. How their Top Of The Pops debut with "This Town Ain't Big Enough For Both Of Us" stunned a generation and nearly scored them a UK #1. How their career moved through many phases, including (but not limited to) art rock, glam, big band swing, electro-disco, new wave and synthpop, taking in collaborations with Todd Rundgren, Les Rita Mitsouko, Tony Visconti,
Franz Ferdinand and Giorgio Moroder.
How keyboardist and songwriter Ron's intricate staccato arrangements combine with the acrobatic vocals in which Russell delivers his brother's always-on-point lyrics. How Ron's stillness and stern, intimidating visage contrasts onstage with Russell's hyperactivity. How their popularity has spiked unpredictably in different territories at different times: Britain, France, Germany, Scandinavia, Japan, and their homeland the United States. And how the influence of "the greatest band you've never heard of," or "your favourite band's favourite band," has been recognized by successive generations of artists from Joy Division to
Duran Duran to
Depeche Mode to
Bjork to Beck and beyond. Their influence on music cannot be overstated - as super-producer Jack Antonoff recently declared, "All pop music is re-arranged Sparks."
Now into their sixth decade of making music, Sparks have never been more relevant, with studio albums Hippopotamus (2017) and A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip (2020) both reaching #7 on the UK Official Albums Chart amidst global acclaim. Released in 2021, the lauded career-spanning documentary film The Sparks Brothers, directed by Edgar Wright (Shaun Of The Dead, Hot Fuzz, Baby Driver), brought an awareness of Sparks to parts they previously hadn't reached.
Sparks' 2021 film musical Annette, directed by Leos Carax and starring Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard, has been showered with awards, especially in France where the film won three Lumières Awards and five César Awards, including "Best Original Music" for Ron and Russell. In addition, the film's "So May We Start" was shortlisted for "Best Original Song" at the 94th Academy Awards. Focus Features have recently announced plans to develop X-Crucior, a new musical epic written by Ron and Russell.
