'A Steady Drip Drip Drip' is Sparks' 24th LP, recorded in 2019 and released in 2020, just in time for Covid. It featured a full rock band, with a new lineup, alongside the Mael brothers. The new lineup seems to lead to a new sound as well, with acoustic rhythm guitar often to the fore and generally a lighter tone. As always, it sounds effortlessly contemporary and entirely like Sparks. It's also an LP created for the modern way of consuming music, with four 'singles' and thematic 'lyric videos' for all the tracks. The lyrics themselves cover such subjects as Stravinsky, lawnmower ownership, living on the West Coast, people who live behind their phones, living in fear and a plea not to fuck up the world. It also uses the word 'fuck' several times, and given the circumstances, perhaps rightfully so. It's the sort of LP that you could throw individual tracks onto a playlist, or even a good old fashioned mixtape or CD and if the listener knew Sparks, they would be pleased, and if they didn't, they would be at least intrigued enough to want to hear more.