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May 21, 2025 By Issa Nasatir Photography by Munachi Osegbu

Sparks (brothers Ron and Russell Mael) are releasing a new album, MAD!, this Friday via Transgressive. Now they have shared the album’s fifth single, “A Little Bit of Light Banter.” Watch the lyric video below.

The song is about laying in bed with your partner and trading a little light banter with them despite the troubles of the world.

A previous press release described the sound of MAD! in greater detail: “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.”

Previously Sparks shared the album’s first single “Do Things My Own Way,” which was one of our Songs of the Week. Then its second single, “JanSport Backpack,” also made its way onto our Songs of the Week. The album’s third single, “Drowned in a Sea of Tears,” also landed on Songs of the Week. Then shared the album’s fourth single, “My Devotion.”

The band’s last album was 2023’s The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte, which was the band’s first album on Island Records in 47 years. The band released several albums on the label in the 1970s, including 1974’s classic Kimono My House. The album’s title track, “The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte,” was accompanied via a video for the song starring none other than Oscar winning actress Cate Blanchett.

In 2021, Edgar Wright directed an acclaimed documentary on the band, The Sparks Brothers. In 2021, they also co-wrote the musical film, Annette, with director Leos Carax and also did all the music for it. In 2022, they announced a reissue series.

In our previous print issue (Issue 73) we interviewed Sparks about the 50th anniversary of Kimono My House. Read the article here.

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