DREAMWORKS RECORDS
The men of Sparta, from left, are Tony Hajjar, Matt Miller, Paul Hinojos and Jim Ward. The band is one of two that emerged from the defunct At the Drive-In.
ALREADY touted as one of the new bands to watch by both Spin and Rolling Stone magazines, Sparta comes to the table with major cred behind them. Sparta is one of two splinter bands (the other is Mars Volta) from At the Drive-In, a dynamic group that was on the verge on breaking out after releasing 2000's "Relationship of Command" album. Sparta leaves Drive-In
with power to spare
"Wiretap Scars" Sparta (DreamWorks)
By Gary C.W. Chun
gchun@starbulletin.com
But the El Paso, Texas-based, quintet had already been together for six years and broke up about a year later, citing weariness and boredom with their sound.
"We all made a deal that if any one of us wanted to stop, we would stop," said singer Jim Ward, who was quoted in a Los Angeles Times profile earlier this month. "There wasn't a lot of drama involved. We just wanted a change. If you're done with loving playing, you gotta stop, no matter how big or small you are."
Ward, guitarist Paul Hinojosa and drummer Tony Hajjar would continue to hold informal jam sessions with bass player Matt Miller. Sparta emerged out of these sessions, releasing the EP "Austere."
Sparta's new album, "Wiretap Scars," sounds like At the Drive-In, Mach 2, more mature without sacrificing its power. The hype behind this group and album is for real; bracing, punk-fueled rock music hasn't sounded this smart and focused since Fugazi's heyday.
There's an undeniable chemistry between the band members, totally playing in sync through both moody and raging passages. The band chose to record in Vancouver, Canada, removed from the distractions of El Paso and Los Angeles. Producer/engineer Jerry Finn, who's worked with blink-182, Green Day and Sum 41, has perfectly captured Sparta's power in the studio.
Sparta's lyrics tend toward the abstract, but there's still an emotional heft to them, i.e. the wind-up and release of "Air" and the philosophical "Echodyne Harmonic." The album's opening track, "Cut Your Ribbon," offers up a gritty cry of anguish before shooting toward a cathartic release.
The band's also able to sustain a mood and texture on several well-conceived songs like the hopeful "Mye," the melancholy "Collapse" (probably their prettiest arrangement, augmented by the strains of a cello) and an energetic "Sans Cosm."
Two highlights of "Wiretap Scars" are more lyrically direct. "Light Burns Clear" is just that, a clear-headed assessment of a failed relationship with a great chorus that goes: "Fan the flames to the landslide/crown yourself in the wake/we play the disaster/fanfare, fanfare, liar."
"Glasshouse Tarot" works in the same vein, with quiet, reverb-filled instrumental passages framing a song of regret and self-obsession.
There's not a wasted moment on this album; with a musical camaraderie already established as Drive-In members, the guys of Sparta have continued to forge a sound hard to ignore. A line from "Echodyne Harmonic," "hold on and don't give in!" suits the band to a tee.
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