Most other musicians, when they’ve been working for over half a century, are resting on their laurels, basking in the warm glow of their heritage, accepting the odd Lifetime Achievement Award, playing the odd Greatest Hits tour and concentrating on shifting their back catalogue. But Sparks are not most other musicians. They are utterly unique.
With the release of their 26th album, The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte, on May 26th Ron and Russell Mael continue on that unique and uncompromising path. And, in a move that is as unexpected as it is unsurprising, the new bold, genre defying, modern masterpiece will be released by Island Records, the label that released their astonishing breakthrough record Kimono My House in 1974.
“Funny how things work! One of the most memorable periods for Sparks, the one that forever cemented our relationship with the UK and also exposed Sparks to a bigger audience around the world, was the 70s Island Records era. Chris Blackwell, Muff Winwood, and Co. went all in on our album, Kimono My House, and released a truly non-conventional first single, This Town Ain’t Big Enough For Both Of Us. Their belief (and ours) proved right: that there was a place for both bold creativity and commerciality in pop music. And here we find ourselves in 2023, almost 50 years later, re-signing with Island Records, again with an album that we all feel is as bold and uncompromising as anything we did back then, or for that matter, anytime throughout our career. We’re happy that after so much time, we’ve reconnected with Island, sharing the same spirit of adventure that we all had way back when, but with our new album, ‘The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte.’” Ron and Russell Mael
“Sparks have always been one of the most original, ground-breaking and creative groups in pop and their longevity is partly down to their ability to constantly reinvent themselves. It’s an honour and thrill having Sparks back on Island. Next year it will be 50 years since Island released “Kimono My House”. That album sounded like it came from the future and once again with “The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte”, Ron & Russell have created a pop masterpiece that sounds like no one else.“
Louis Bloom, Island President
“Levels of interest in Sparks, worldwide, have never been so high. In part this is due to the releases of the Edgar Wright directed documentary The Sparks Brothers and Annette, the musical film Ron and Russell wrote, but it is also due to their seemingly inexhaustible creativity and sheer hard work. Each album is more ambitious, each tour larger and more far reaching. It was important to partner with a label who could match the band’s ambition on a global scale.”
Sue Harris, Manager
To coincide with the album release Sparks will take to the road for a world tour that will include 2 sold out headline shows at London’s Royal Albert Hall and, in America, the soon-to-be-announced largest headline show of the band’s career.
