El Paso alt-rock lifers Sparta are back with a new album announcement, and they’re not easing into it. The band has revealed ‘Cut A Silhouette,’ their sixth full-length, due Friday, May 29 via Equal Vision Records / Dine Alone Records — and they’ve got the first single ready to go.
Lead track Crater is streaming now, co-written with Frank Iero (My Chemical Romance, L.S. Dunes), and comes with a music video directed by Travis Shinn. Watch it below.
’Cut A Silhouette’ was recorded in just seven days at Magpie Cage Recording Studio, produced, engineered and tracked by the legendary J. Robbins. It’s a record that frontman Jim Ward is calling a love letter — to music, to the band, to the whole messy, meaningful process of making something that matters.
“This is a love record. I want it to leave an impression, and at this point in my career, that’s what I yearn for. I’m working so hard to make something meaningful to me, and I really want people to get a chance to feel it as well.” — Jim Ward
The title itself came from an unexpected place: a documentary about John Candy, in which Macaulay Culkin described the late comedian as someone who “entered your brain and cut a silhouette.” Ward heard it and knew immediately.
“He said that when he met John Candy, he just entered your brain and cut a silhouette. Like, he just left an impression is the way I see it. And when I heard him say that, I was like ‘Oh! That’s what I want this record to be.’ I want it to leave an impression.” — Jim Ward
Written over the course of a year in hotel rooms, practice spaces, studios and soundchecks, ‘Cut A Silhouette’ finds the band — now rounded out by bassist Matt Miller and drummer Neil Hennessy — operating with a renewed sense of collective purpose. Ward says it plainly:
“This feels like we’re a fucking band again. All three of us are in a room, we’re all writing together, we’re listening to each other; this is now a constructive creative process, and it’s now the end of this era. Like, I made it through.” — Jim Ward
The album’s collaborator list is a who’s who of indie and post-hardcore royalty. Frank Iero co-wrote both Crater and Mouthbreather. Kemble Walters (Chevelle, Juliette and the Licks) co-wrote and plays on See You Soon, alongside pianist Adrian Borgeois. J. Robbins and Brooks Harlan (Jawbox, War on Women) appear on several tracks, and Carlos Arévalo of Chicano Batman lends guitar to album cut Midnights.
Revolver summed up the Sparta sound about as well as anyone could, calling it “a tempo-jolted post-hardcore waltz that lunges towards galaxy-spiraling guitar noise, phosphorescent waves of bass fuzz and Ward’s yearningly, scratchily melodic vocal presence.” Yeah, that tracks.
The band will be out on the road through the summer, including headline dates in Latin America, festival appearances, and legs supporting Jimmy Eat World and The Toadies in select U.S. markets. Full dates below and more info here.
Tour dates
- May 3 — El Paso, TX — San Jacinto Plaza (Sol Summit Festival)
- Jun 5 — Denver, CO — Ogden Theater *
- Jun 6 — Salt Lake City, UT — The Grand Theatre *
- Jun 7 — Boise, ID — Knitting Factory *
- Jun 9 — Seattle, WA — Showbox *
- Jun 10 — Portland, OR — Roseland Theater *
- Jun 12 — San Francisco, CA — The Fillmore *
- Jun 13 — Los Angeles, CA — The Belasco *
- Jun 14 — Santa Ana, CA — The Observatory *
- Jun 16 — San Diego, CA — The Observatory North Park *
- Jun 17 — Phoenix, AZ — The Van Buren *
- Aug 14 — Rio de Janeiro, BR — Casa da Glória #
- Aug 15 — São Paulo, BR — Burning House #
- Aug 16 — Buenos Aires, AR — Club Cultural Bula #
- Aug 18 — Santiago, CL — Club Ambar #
- Aug 19 — Lima, PE — Yield Rock #
- Aug 21 — San José, CR — Amon Solar #
- Aug 22 — Mexico City, MX — Hendrix Bar #
- Sep 9 — Austin, TX — Moody Amphitheater ^
- Sep 10 — Irving, TX — The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory ^
* supporting The Toadies | # headline show | ^ supporting Jimmy Eat World
’Cut A Silhouette’ track list
- Split Lip
- Crater
- Mouthbreather
- Daydream
- See You Soon
- Everything You Say
- Without Your Hands
- Midnights
- Mystery Of Missing
- Glimmer
‘Cut A Silhouette’ is out May 29 on Equal Vision Records / Dine Alone Records. Pre-order / pre-save here.
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