Last month, Sparks shared the new song “Do Things My Own Way” and announced that they’d soon be releasing a new album called Mad! Now, brothers Ron and Russell Mael have revealed the details of their follow-up to 2023’s The Girl Is Crying in Her Latte. The new album is out May 23, via Transgressive, and includes today’s new single, “JanSport Backpack,” a quirky pop track about fading love as remembered through a faithful, but worn-down, backpack. Listen to that track below.
This summer, Sparks will hit the road for a proper tour in support of the album. After a show on June 8, in Kyoto, Japan, the Mael brothers will perform concerts in England, Scotland, France, Germany, Sweden, and other countries. The run of live shows is currently set to end on July 8, in Milan, Italy. Find Sparks’ complete list of tour dates down below.
The Girl Is Crying in Her Latte was a comeback, of sorts, for Sparks, in that it was their first album for Island Records since the 1970s. Mad!, in turn, is the band’s first LP for Transgressive.
Revisit Pitchfork’s “Trend Upsetters: 10 Essential Sparks Songs.”
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Mad!:
01 Do Things My Own Way
02 JanSport Backpack
03 Hit Me, Baby
04 Running Up a Tab at the Hotel for the Fab
05 My Devotion
06 Don’t Dog It
07 In Daylight
08 I-405 Rules
09 A Long Red Light
10 Drowned in a Sea of Tears
11 A Little Bit of Light Banter
12 Lord Have Mercy
Sparks:
06-08 Kyoto, Japan – ROHM Theatre Kyoto
06-10 Osaka, Japan – Zepp Namba
06-12 Tokyo, Japan – EX Theater Roppongi
06-13 Tokyo, Japan – EX Theater Roppongi
06-18 London, England – Eventim Apollo
06-19 London, England – Eventim Apollo
06-21 Manchester, England – O2 Apollo
06-22 Manchester, England – O2 Apollo
06-24 Glasgow, Scotland – Royal Concert Hall
06-26 Haarlem, Netherlands – PHIL Haarlem
06-28 Brussels, Belgium – Cirque Royal
06-30 Paris, France – La Salle Pleyel
07-01 Cologne, Germany – Gloria-Theater
07-03 Copenhagen, Denmark – DR Koncerthuset
07-04 Stockholm, Sweden – Gröna Lund Tivoli
07-06 Berlin, Germany – Uber Eats Music Hall
07-08 Milan, Italy – Teatro Degli Arcimboldi
