Sparks, brothers Ron and Russell Mael announce their new album ‘MAD!’ which will be released on May 23rd via Transgressive Records. The band also reveals full details of MAD!’s artwork, tracklisting, and formats, all available for preorder now.

Ever the masters of the musical vignette, this bittersweet, pop song portrays a fading love in Sparks’ inimitable fashion, her JanSport backpack a sad reminder of a relationship on the rocks.

Ron Mael is one of our most acutely perceptive observers of social mores. In a different discipline – dramaturg, cartoonist, novelist, cineaste, chronicler – he'd be a Moliere, a Hogarth, a Fitzgerald, an Altman, a Swift. He just happens to work within the medium of popular song. His brother Russell Mael has the asset of a talent to put those observations across in a uniquely arresting manner, captivating as a frontman and gifted with a countertenor voice of extraordinary range. The alchemy between Ron on keys and Russell on vocals – Two Hands, One Mouth, to invoke the name of one of their tours – is simply what they do. And they've rarely done it better than on MAD!, the band's 28th studio album.

MAD! finds Ron and Russell examining cultural phenomena such as branded backpacks, tattoos, performative devotion (whether to a God, a lover, a celebrity or a sports team), the hegemony of banter, and the rise of influencers. The satire is never on-the-nose, always retaining enough ambiguity for the listener to fill in the blanks. And the exquisitely unusual lexicon (you won't hear the word 'epistemology' on many other albums this year) and cultural references leap out on every listen.

Musically there are nods to New Wave, Synthpop, Art Rock and Electronic Opera – all genres Sparks had hands in pioneering, or straight-up invented. When you hear echoes of other artists, from Air to Shostakovich, you remind yourself that they're all people who Sparks influenced in the first place. (Well, maybe not Shostakovich.)

Ultimately, however, MAD! is a modern record, which belongs in, and speaks to, the modern world. The album opens with the song 'Do Things My Own Way', a piece of typically forward-facing progressive pop which was the album's lead single. But it also functions as something of a manifesto for the Maels themselves. Because Sparks are a band who have always, always done things their own way.

MAD! Tracklisting

1 Do Things My Own Way

2 JanSport Backpack

3 Hit Me, Baby

4 Running Up A Tab At The Hotel For The Fab

5 My Devotion

6 Don't Dog It

7 In Daylight

8 I-405 Rules

9 A Long Red Light

10 Drowned In A Sea Of Tears

11 A Little Bit Of Light Banter

12 Lord Have Mercy

MAD! physical formats

Cassette

Black vinyl LP

Lenticular gatefold sleeve with blue vinyl LP

Deluxe triple gatefold edition with red vinyl LP and CD (exclusive to store.allsparks.com)

After seven decades making music together Sparks continue to break new ground. On their 2025 tour, the first leg will begin on 8 June in Japan and end on 8 July in Milan. Although Russell performed in Italy once as part of a Sgt Pepper anniversary concert and both brothers played there with FFS, this will be the first-ever Italian Sparks gig. The tour is already the band’s fastest selling to date - with more international dates to be announced soon due to demand. A full list of dates can be found below, and tickets are available here.

SPARKS MAD! TOUR DATES:

June 2025

08 - Japan, Kyoto, ROHM Theatre

10 - Japan, Osaka, Zepp Namba

12 & 13 - Japan, Tokyo, EX Theater

18 & 19 - UK, London, Eventim Apollo

21 & 22 - UK, Manchester, O2 Apollo

24 - Glasgow, Royal Concert Hall

26 - Netherlands, Haarlem, PHIL Haarlem

28 - Belgium, Brussels, Cirque Royal

30 - France, Paris, La Salle Pleyel

July 2025

01 - Germany, Cologne, Gloria-Theater

03 - Denmark, Copenhagen, The Koncerthuset

04 - Sweden, Stockholm, Grona Lund Tivoli

06 - Germany, Berlin, Uber Eats

08 - Italy, Milan, Teatro degli Arcimboldi

Sparks Online: