SPARKS
THE GIRL IS CRYING IN HER LATTE
THE MAEL BROTHERS ARE BACK, DOING WHAT THEY DO BEST. BUT THIS TIME OUT, IS THERE A SENSE OF DÉJÀ VU WITH SOME OF THEIR TRADEMARK ECCENTRICITIES?
ISLAND
© Munachi Osegbu
★★★★★
Though they weren’t exactly absent during the 21st Century’s first decade – as recent reissues of five commercially fruitless albums attest – it feels in contrast like, for the last half decade or so, Sparks have barely been out of the spotlight. The seeming ubiquity began when Franz Ferdinand reminded us of their indispensability with 2015’s collaborative FFS project, and it peaked over the last couple of years with Edgar Wright’s documentary, those aforementioned reissues and, of course, Annette, their recent quasi rock opera film.