Label: BMG
Release date: May 15, 2020
Production: Russell Mael, Ron Mael
Album length: 54.26 min.
Genre: Art pop
Rating: 9/10
Here’s another stone in the chameleon-like career of one of the most eccentric names rock history has ever produced. The Los Angeles duo Sparks is made up of the Mael brothers. Ron plays keyboards and writes the lyrics, while Russell sings and occasionally dips into the creative process. They’re one of those rare acts, and since cult bands always belong to the few, it’s the oddballs who follow them. They’ve been at it since the late 1960s and have been putting out records for almost fifty years. It has always been the case that visionaries and thinkers are people who think wider, or just differently, and they’ve always been written off as weirdos and freaks.
That’s exactly what happened with Sparks, because they never made it commercially. Their nature always pushed them to get their ideas across in unusual ways. With their music they’ve given food for thought to everyone who still wants it, even though one ruler or another keeps preaching to them their own way. “A Steady, Drip, Drip, Drip” is their twenty-fourth album. Over their career, Ron and Russell Mael have turned every twist of the music industry to their advantage: they adopt the trendy sound of the moment, absorb it, spit out the useless ballast, and serve it up in their own light. That’s why their albums are full of eclectic music that reflects its moment, yet somehow reaches further over the years than the two of them probably expected. As usual, “A Steady, Drip, Drip, Drip” is packed with a sparkling, dissecting, lucid and clever look at what’s going on around them. Even the most devoted fans can never get quite enough of them. This time, among other themes, they hold up a mirror to people who wear masks, and not only in the age of the new coronavirus. Far from envying them, they poke fun at them so skillfully and so under cover that everyone’s having a ball. If someone once said the Mael brothers are the best thing since the Beatles, that’s mostly true. Across a hefty discography they’ve managed to offer a lot more than the melodies of that British foursome. Every single track on the new album is interesting, first for the lyrics, then for the performance. Russell in particular still uses his famous falsetto, which is their trademark. Many years ago he explained that it came out of pure functionality, demanded by Ron’s songwriting. And he sticks to it on “A Steady, Drip, Drip, Drip”.
The Mael brothers are still relevant, fresh and curious. When they discover something, they burn it into their style, yet they still leave themselves free to build the sonic scaffolding however they like. That’s exactly what makes them unique, because they refuse to be told what to do. It’s also why, despite swapping a whole bunch of labels, they’ve always found their way to the part of the audience that knew how and wanted to listen. It goes without saying that with their lucidity and dark humor they can achieve more than plenty of much younger musicians. It’s well known that Depeche Mode, Queen, Pet Shop Boys, Sonic Youth, Nirvana and a few others took at least a lesson or two from Sparks. In 2015 they even made a joint album with Franz Ferdinand, FFS. Yes, their sense of humor is biting, direct and makes you think. Once again, they’ve woven it into the album “A Steady, Drip, Drip, Drip”.
Their wandering along the fringes of the entertainment business should have been rewarded with something financially tangible long ago, but sadly they’ll go down in history as pointers to a pampered capitalism and petty-bourgeois mentality, and to those who create only for the sake of creating. Even after fifty years they’re fresh and sharp, critical and able to create the kind of music that makes you think. On “A Steady, Drip, Drip, Drip” you’ll hear operatic theatrics, dazzling orchestration, synth pop, rock guitars and always-interesting twists in songs that they’ve made with ease and conviction. The two former art students, whose art rock has chewed through glam rock, disco, new wave and more over the years, once again disarm your ears with a brutally direct critique of life in 2020. They never bowed to anyone, and this time is no different: they refuse to play along with today’s life and moral systems and norms. A band like this won’t come along again for a long time, and the Mael brothers, now in their eighth decade, aren’t pulling the handbrake at all. Quite the opposite.
Author: Jernej Vene
Track list:
1. All That
2. I’m Toast
3. Lawnmower
4. Sainthood Is Not In Your Future
5. Pacific Standard Time
6. Stravinsky’s Only Hit
7. Left Out In The Cold
8. Self-Effacing
9. One For The Ages
10. Onomata Pia
11. IPhone
12. The Existential Threat
13. Nothing Is Faster Than The Speed Of Light
14. Please Don’t Fuck Up My World
Line-up:
Russell Mael – vocals, engineering, mixing
Ron Mael – keyboards, programming
Guest musicians:
Steven Nistor – drums
Evan Weiss – guitars
Eli Pearl – guitars
Patrick Kelly – bass guitar
Ryan Parrish – saxophone
Alex Casnoff – additional keyboards on One For The Ages
Coldwater Canyon youth choir – backing vocals on “Please, Don’t Fuck Up My World”
