Sparkle Hard

Sparkle Hard is the seventh studio album by American indie rock band Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks, released on May 18, 2018, by Matador Records and Domino Records. It reached #174 on the Billboard 200 charts, and peaked at #64 on the Official UK Charts.

Critical reception
Sparkle Hard was critically acclaimed upon its release. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, it received an average score of 84, based on 26 reviews. Jem Aswad of Variety said that "With nary a weak track, Sparkle Hard finds Malkmus hitting a new peak nearly 30 years into his career."

Several publications named the album one of the best of 2018, including: Rolling Stone, Spin, Q, Uncut, Mojo, Under the Radar, and Consequence of Sound.

Personnel

 * Stephen Malkmus – vocals, songwriting, guitar, mellotron, piano, Memorymoog, bass
 * Joanna Bolme – bass, backing vocals
 * Mike Clark – keyboards, JUNO synthesizer
 * Jake Morris – drums, backing vocals, percussion
 * Chris Funk – production, acoustic slide guitar (10)
 * Kim Gordon – vocals (10)
 * Kyleen King – strings (3, 9)
 * Luke Price – fiddle (10)
 * JJ Golden – lacquer cut
 * Adam Lee – recording, mixing
 * Orion Landau – design
 * James Rexroad – photography