To download songs for free go to: ilovedarksparks.com
Here is what people have to say about the music of the incredible and kind and beautiful and intelligent Dark Sparks. ;-)
IS THIS MUSIC?
So many bands, old and new, now make their songs available for free. But these two latest songs from this band who hail from ‘Planet Earth’ have an exciting air of the dark about them. Think early Suede, The Auteurs, Placebo when they’re not being too melodramatic…and you start to get close. Worth checking out. 4/5
24-7 MAGAZINE
Derbyshire hopefuls, DARK SPARKS, are proud of their name drop expertise (supported these, produced by those, managed by them...) but does their self released single 'Blood Petrol Fire' - an allegorical car crash scenario - measure up? Well, they'e certainly got the drama and drive of past mood pop heroes such as Echo and The Bunnymen and The Smiths but these boys bring an altogether more rambunctious attitude to their pop tones, with a healthy dose of grainy dissonance among the grandeur. Second song Bullet in the Eye even manages to combine Editors-esque gloom with the vocal desperation of '80s post-punk demi-gods, Theatre of Hate and PiL.
Let's hope they retain these fine qualities when the majors come a-knocking.
CHANNEL 4 TELETEXT - demo of the week 8/10
Deserving to put Derbyshire village Swadlincote on the map, they've supported The Paddingtons and Subways and are far better than either.
Leigh Greenwood has the same hard-won optimism as Tom Smith, as the band unleash propulsive classic '80s indie fire behind him in The Bunnymen mould.
There's an ambition here that deserves to be matched by a slavering fanbase.
SANDMAN
Dark Sparks on the other hand immediately take my aural hand and guide me to a far more exciting place. Music that is full of energy and desperate yearning for substance
in an otherwise watercolour world. It's a passionate cry for attention, bass driven, pounding drum beats, as if Editors had the new-youth drive of Bloc Party. Headliners Louie can't but fail to live up to the energetic performance of Dark Sparks. Despite leaping and bound-
ing around the stage as if giving a masterclass on scruffy rock stagemanship, their music doesn't quite carry the same energy or eagerness.
OUR IRON LUNG
Things soon picked up though, as Dark Sparks took to the stage in a burst of feedback and distortion. Slowly, from this mass of noise emerged the crisp sound of well crafted song after song. Lurching forward at a mechanical pace, held together by skillful guitar work and captivating vocal lines, they immediately swept away the hangover left by Dazed Dakotas. As forthcoming single Into The Dark burst forth from the stage, it felt like a special moment was dawning over the night. Suddenly people were dancing, reaching out over the monitors to the twitching singer and equally electrifying guitarist and bassist. Dancing with vigour and energy to the relentless pulse of forward thinking yet palatable music. Its as if Interpol stopped growing moustaches and started writing songs that made your feet move for dancing's sake, not for movements sake. As if Franz Ferdinand had grown up slower, and at some point merged with Tiny Dancers.
HIGH VOLTAGE
Dark Sparks’ second single sounds like something The Strokes might have come up with if they grew up in Derbyshire. All the key ingredients are there, from the jangly guitars to the gloriously furious drums. By adding vocal harmonies and contagious lyrics to the mix however, ‘Blood Petrol Fire’ shows that the band aren’t merely copycats. Instead, they could prove to be something quite special. 4/5
THE MAG
Throwing some choppy chords together and coming up with The Smiths meet Bloc Party, Dark Sparks get down to the business of chronicling a nasty car crash in their fanbase-favourite, 'Blood, Petrol, Fire'.
The stark contrast between crashing loud sections and delicate low volume bits is excellent and the vocal follows the transitions perfectly.
'Bullet in the Eye' keeps that eighties-revival going (duly updated, of course) sounding even more saccharin than the first track, revelling in a flurry of guitars.
It takes balls to tackle subjects like this and Dark Sparks have the sincerity to pull it off. Watch out for these indie-disco-wave pioneers!
FLAVORPILL
Quartet Dark Sparks have garnered comparisons to Bloc Party, Interpol and various '80s indie acts, but the as-yet-unsigned band has a much more autonomous personality. Vocalist Leigh Greenwood's charismatic vocals tussle with the sharpest of guitar hooks in recent single "Blood Petrol Fire," and the rest of their catalogue is peppered with pop-friendly post-punk. – Joe Rudkin
And best of all....
SANDMAN
Looking like skinny Victorian dandies Dark Sparks shamble onto stage armed with songs are off kilter, bordering on tuneless, and on ‘Through Sleeping Eyes’ singer Leigh Greenwood screeches about ‘your hands around my neck’ as if he’s bordering on madness. Single ‘Into The Dark’ elicits nods of recognition from the crowd, but in all it makes for a fairly joyless affair. A memorable thing is the vocalist’s gait, a mixture of bending, crawling and swooning, somehow strange and fascinating.
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