Please join Big Stir Records and our SoCal pop rock heroes sparkle*jets u.k. in welcoming Summer – and continuing the set the stage for their new album due at the height of the season – with the perfectly sunny single “I Can't Wait For Summer”! It's out July 5 on all platforms and up for pre-order and pre-save now:
“I Can't Wait For Summer” follows sparkle*jets u.k.'s surprise return last month with “Box Of Letters”, the band's first new original tune to see commercial release in over 20 years. “Summer” finds SJUK co-leader Michael Simmons stepping to the fore (after Susan West's lead vocal spotlight on “Box”) as the group – Simmons, West, bassist Jamie Knight, drummer Joel Valder and Tisha Boonyawatana on keys and vocals -- conjures up a vocal sound that's a tribute to a key influential band slyly referenced by the cover art. Its July 5 release date ensures that the tune will be getting heavy pre-release airplay on the global pop-rock airwaves heading into the US holiday weekend, and will be a mainstay on Summer party playlists while fans eagerly await the full-length album BOX OF LETTERS just two weeks later on Vinyl, CD and Streaming.
For fans of classic pop rock sounds, the cover art is a tipoff as to what to expect here, but couldn't prepare any listener for the giddy freshness of sparkle*jets u.k.'s spin on the sunshine pop sound. Michael Simmons explains that the band – whose affinity for the midyear months stems in part from their complementary careers as music educators – have been waiting for this particular “Summer” for quite some time. “This song holds the distinction of being the first one on the record to be started – over 20 years ago – and the last one finished,” he tells us, referring to the long gestation period of the band's third album of originals (not to dismiss last year's acclaimed covers collection BEST OF FRIENDS which marked the band's true return to the indie pop scene where they'd be so sorely missed). “This was my first serious attempt at a Beach Boys pastiche, and it's probably good that we got to do some real musical maturing between then and now -- I recently found an early version that’s even more brazenly Beach Boys than the finished one. The final version of 'Summer' is a loving homage, but it's definitely us!”
“When we left off recording all those years ago, the first half of the song was done and stayed pretty much as-is, but I could never figure out what to do with the second half,” Simmons continues. “When we got back to recording again to do BEST OF FRIENDS, the third 'real' album started to naturally come together. I finally finished writing this tune, and even came up with a couple more hooks that the ladies sing at the end that really take it to another level. We had our friend Greg Carroll slap some harmonica on there – a texture we’ve never used before – and the whole thing turned out better than we even hoped.”
With early airplay and strong reviews already pouring in for the full album BOX OF LETTERS (out July 19 on Vinyl, CD and Streaming and up for pre-order now), sparkle*jets u.k. are answering the question posed on one of the album's tracks: “Where Is The Moment?” For the band, the moment is now, but even more so, the Summer months in their native California are the perfect time for this single and video. And whatever the weather is like where you are, they'll bring some sunshine into your musical life, too.