Sparkle Blood is a no-nonsense Lethbridge, Alberta based power-trio comprising Tyler Stewart (guitar/vocals), Bailey Kate (bass/vocals) and Bre Day (drums) who offer sharp thoughtful musings over an enticing melodic background. Half outrage, half celebration, all hooks, their album `ZIP ZAP` is released this month.
The album opens with `Mad About It` a kind of fuzzy singalong where the narrator is basically looking for a better world. A simple but pertinent slice of social commentary wrapped up in one hundred and forty four seconds with a catchy tune. The title of `Burning Barrel In My Heart` is usually a metaphorical phrase rather than a literal idiom. It typically describes a state of intense, consuming passion, enduring resilience, or the lingering pain of a difficult emotional ordeal (like heartbreak or grief) and here it`s all that along with a touch of frustration and brooding. It also has a kind of retro Buddy Holly vibe at times.
`I Don’t Know` is a sweet melodic tribute in praise of that special someone in your life and how you don`t deserve them. There`s a tale of unhealthy co-dependency running through the chugging `Around We Go` where the narrator even looks to Bob Dylan for advice.
`In Real Life` we are encouraged to disregard what is fed to us and seek the truth for ourselves. It hints at the idiom of “Separating the wheat from the chaff” to distinguish valuable people, ideas, or data from those that are worthless and also the famous play on the Latin aphorism “carpe diem” or seize the day, to embrace spiritual attentiveness amidst the pressures of modern life. All of this philosophy wrapped up in a two and a half minute rhythmic earworm. We have a rhetorical question with `Who The fuck Is Patrick Swan` which in essence turns out to be a melodic left field or slightly distorted homage to a friend
`The World Is Run By Sexist Men` heads into the disturbing world of the manosphere and is a foot tapping slightly punk tinged composition. There`s a grunginess to `The Fridays Of Our Lives` which is about winding down and catching up with friends. A sort of POETS, a workplace acronym in the UK and Australia for Friday, standing for “Piss Off (or Push Off) Early, Tomorrow’s Saturday”.
`My Favourite Pee Pole` is a fuzzy riffed reverie from the perspective of a dog and his joy with his favourite watering hole. There`s more of a grindy fuzziness to `Restless` which relates to somebody who is agitated and impatient with the simple things in life.
We have a more punky defiant texture to `Not Too Old To Skate` which kinda mirrors the subject matter that the song relates to. The final offering `Totally Ignorant` is a bouncy foul mouthed tirade against the ill-informed and somewhat oblivious.
`ZIP ZAP` is an interesting, brief, and condensed album where the famous aphorism of “less is more” is exemplified. Where stripping away the unnecessary lets the core quality shine through.
Rating 8/10
