They say the best art is the most personal, which couldn’t be more true for Sparklmami’s debut, bilingual and multi-genre album, in this body, out via Verve Records / Slowplay. The album is out now, but the rollout is far from over, as she will headline a show as part of Jazz Is Dead in LA at The Moroccan Lounge on July 22.
One way or another, the Chicago-based, Texas-raised multi-hyphenate finds herself coming back home to her childhood and how she processes it as an adult. From the start of her artistic career, she showed a fascination for looking back and exploring the relationship between what was and what is. While her initial interest manifested in dioramas and art installations, Sparklmami eventually refocused her artistic pursuit on music and live performance.
When it came to in this body, that desire to confront the past as though it were the present was brought to the forefront. Backed by an all-star team of collaborators, the resulting product is an evolution of those early dioramas, conjuring childhood memories and dreams through her inspired yet original fusion of sounds best described as a living, breathing world.
As cliché as it may be, beginning with the album’s opener, “no te vayas,” is the best example of Sparklmami’s approach to the album. On top of being a smooth drift into her mind – taking elements representative of her background like the appearance from Indian singer Runa Laila – “no te vayas” is about as timeless as you can get thanks to its jazzy instrumentation indicative of Donald Byrd in his heyday.
While that description might make in this body sound too caught up in the internal workings of Sparklmami’s mind, tracks like “penso en voce” serve as a reminder of how energetic the music can get. With some elements borrowing from artists like Roy Ayers or Kool & The Gang, she knows how to take those early inspirations to the present day, much like her lyrical content, and apply it to an on-the-run rhythm.
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Speaking of her lyrics, that’s undoubtedly what prevents the album from becoming an homage piece and emerging as a statement on family, memory, and dreamlike logic. It’s not every day you get a song like “it was 5am,” with Sparklmami singing like a movie narrator describing a dream where a giant man hugged her dream to near collapse. It’s the sort of thing you’d only get from a magic realism novel but repurposed for a sonic landscape.
Despite its short runtime, there’s no shortage of songs with the same level of inventiveness like “it was 5am.” Whether it’s Sparklmami’s hazy vocals on the groovy “running” or the Mexican bolero of “quisiera,” the latter of which is the album’s standout, you can’t help but be amazed at in this body.
For someone on their debut album, Sparklmami has come out at full force, bringing with her creativity you can only get from a tried-and-true artist sure of her sensibilities.
in this body by Sparklmami is out on streaming services. For more on new music and tickets to upcoming shows, including a show in LA at The Moroccan Lounge on July 22, check out her Linktree.
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