Videos

ART D’ECCO covers Sparks with “Angst In My Pants”

• 25th Jun 2021

Following the release of his brilliantly executed cover of  The Jam’s indelible hit,“That’s Entertainment,” androgynous glam-rocker Art d’Ecco offers up a new take on the synth-pop brilliance of Sparks with “Angst In My Pants.”

“Before making my last record I jokingly said to my band, if one more person or media outlet says I sound like Sparks I’m gonna cover them,” recalls Art. Sparks are the widely influential American, art-pop duo of Russell and RonMael who formed in 1967. The Sparks documentary by director Edgar Wright, is coming out on Friday June 18, 2021.

Art d’Ecco released his new album, In Standard Definition in April, and as a whole,  In Standard Definition, ruminates on our endless fixation on TV and celebrity culture. It pulls back the curtain on our unhealthy obsessions, as illustrated by lead single/video for “TV God“ and second track/video, “Head Rush“ that made itself at home in the top 20 at Canadian Alt Radio for the past three months. They sit alongside the disco infused, latest single “I Am The Dance Floor” and the sultry stomper, “Desires“ and “Good Looks“ which ruminates on the inherent casualties found in the world of online dating.

In Standard Definition struts with the striking tonal resemblance of ’70s glam, oscillating between new wave and new romantic via C86 infusions, or the simplicity of John Lennon’s Plastic Ono Band. Earning his producer stripes, d’Ecco played musical ringleader, building the tracks’ layers with a revolving door of hand-picked musicians: jazz and blues players on horns, Victoria Symphony Orchestra’s string players, soul singers, and his suited and booted live band. With shrewd attention to structure, the album’s episodic nature can be experienced in its entirety or dialed in and out, with instrumental interludes “Channel 7 (Pilot Season)“ and “Channel 10 (Reruns)“ aligning Lynchian drama with their sinister sounds, to capture actors’ struggles during Tinsteltown’s pilot season. “The enduring highs and lows of a performer struggling to be seen. I wanted to write from that vantage point as much as I wanted to illuminate what we’re all celebrating.”