Paris (AFP)

"We always try not to repeat ourselves": that the Sparks reassure themselves, the spark always causes the pop fire with their latest album, receptacle of magic and sweet madness maintained in 50 years of career.

Confined, the Mael brothers, Ron and Russell, bend from their respective Los Angeles homes to a simultaneous video interview for their 24th album, "A Steady, Drip, Drip, Drip" (BMG).

A smile lights up their faces when they are told what the French singer Catherine Ringer said of them to AFP: "They are precious friends". The Sparks and the Rita Mitsouko, it's a fireworks encounter in the 80s and a success for "Singing In The Shower", one of the three common titles.

"Catherine said that? Oh, you make us happy today, thank you," exclaims Ron, a little mustache a la Clark Gable, in front of his furnished library, topped with a collection of sneakers, including a red and white model stamped "Russia". "Catherine will always have a place here," Russell bounces, placing his hand over her heart.

"They are true to themselves", breathes Catherine Ringer, delighted by their latest production, which she listens to in the background by answering the phone. "Come back my darlings!" She blurted when a bug stopped - briefly - listening.

- Falsetto -

What was the plan of attack for these sparkling septuagenarians? "We wanted to return to our first love, pop music," explains Ron, affable, far from the character he cultivates - frozen face and haunted look - on stage or in TV shows.

"We always try not to repeat ourselves, with the idea that people can discover us with this album and that it must be a good representation of what we are", develops Russell, skilfully ruffled.

The extravagant title "Stravinsky's Only Hit" synthesizes their universe: an electro intro, a flight of opera under acid and a pop landing. "It's a good observation, Ron laughs. There are directions and styles that we have taken in our career." Russell draws his falsetto there. "Ah yes, this sung fragment (which he sings then), we wanted it as a sample that would have come from an unknown piece by the composer," he clarified.

"It is a singular voice in rock, high pitched, like that of a lyrical singer, which marked Queen, one of their first parts", greets the AFP rock critic Michka Assayas.

Their uniqueness also includes "second degree and crossed out", as described by the columnist of France Inter. Which has not always helped under the sun of their native California. "At one point we could feel like extraterrestrials, in a musical sense, since we were largely ignored until we went to Europe," agrees Ron.

- Carax and Cotillard -

"In London, in the 1970s, they found themselves at the center of a collective hysteria, with groupies", depicts Assayas. And France has always held a special place for these "European-centered", he still formulates.

They who had a film project with Jacques Tati, never succeeded, come to work with another French, the filmmaker Leos Carax, on "Annette", a musical film that promises to be extraordinary, "very far from musicals Broadway way, "warns Ron. The credits make you drool with Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard, who sing there, "very far from their comfort zone, they are great", rejoices Russell, happy also that this film is "almost finished".

Recently, they crossed paths with another Frenchman, electro producer SebastiAn, for a piece of his latest album, the delicious "Handcuffed To A Parking Meter". "Handcuffed to a parking meter", a true story? "." Ahaha, and here comes + Ron the pervert +, laughs the latter while caricaturing himself in the third person. I'd like to say it's true ... It may be a wish song. But, after all, the day is just beginning (laughs). "

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