A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip

Originally scheduled for a May 15, 2020 release date, only the digital version of the album was released on that date, with the physical formats (picture disc vinyl, CD, coloured vinyl) pushed back until July 3, 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[2][5]

Like its predecessor, the UK Top Ten album Hippopotamus, A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip uses a full rock-group format.[6] Described by Randall Roberts in the Los Angeles Times as "contemporary, electronically driven art-pop",[7] the album reflects Sparks' traditional stylistic versatility encompassing "pop, rock, New Wave, synth-pop, disco, dance, electro, orchestral, opera"[8] while prominently featuring Russell Mael's layered vocals, accompanied by rocky guitars and drums.[9]

Russell Mael, speaking to The Quietus, said "A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip is a good introduction to Sparks [...] it's one of those albums that's all over the map sonically, and lyrically it's really kind of uncompromising too. It's not timid in any way."[10] The album is noteworthy in Sparks' catalogue for being the first to feature the word "fuck" – the Los Angeles Times quotes Ron Mael laughingly conceding, "We held off for 23 albums".[7][10]

Lyrically, the songs' content is described by David Cheal in the Financial Times as "funny, clever, arch, wry, dry, witty, smart, strange, and, at times, actually rather moving".[9] Louder Than War's Tim Cooper likened Ron Mael's writing to that of Cole Porter or Ivor Novello, "employing wit in the form of puns and metaphors, yet his subject matter and his concerns are always contemporary; never more so than on iPhone, a song whose chorus is something we can all empathise with: 'Put your fucking iPhone down and listen to me.'"[8]

The album's closing track Please Don't Fuck Up My World, described by AllMusic's Heather Phares as a "poignant ecological plea" that "manage[s] to use a children's choir to non-cloying effect", is also unusual in Sparks' body of work for having an overt political message.[11][12] A number of other song lyrics, featuring phrases such as "All interaction's now suspended" and "Threat outside, let me hide, just until the danger passes, then I'll go outside ... the Existential Threat is at your patio door and do not let it in", recorded before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, appeared eerily prescient in retrospect.[7][10]

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
AnyDecentMusic?	8.2/10[13]
Metacritic	84/100[1]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[11]
American Songwriter	[14]
Clash	9/10[15]
Exclaim!	9/10[6]
Financial Times	[9]
The Irish Times	[16]
musicOMH	[17]
The Telegraph	[18]
The Times	[19]
Uncut	9/10[20]

A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip has a score of 84 out of 100 on review aggregator website Metacritic, based on 15 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[1] Mat Smith writing in Clash magazine characterised it as "classic Sparks moments, full of comedy, clever wordplay, deft explorations of all the myriad issues of the world, with arrangements that sound as current and fresh as a dew-soaked spring daisy."[15]

Following its digital release, the album entered the UK iTunes chart at no. 8, as well as the iTunes charts of France, Canada, the US and Germany at nos. 19, 32, 44 and 47 respectively.[3] It entered the UK Official Album Downloads Chart Top 100 at no. 13.[4]

All tracks are written by Ron Mael and Russell Mael.

• Russell Mael – vocals, engineering, mixing
• Ron Mael – keyboards, programming, orchestrations, mixing

Additional musicians:[20]

• Steven Nistor – drums
• Evan Weiss – guitars
• Eli Pearl – guitars
• Patrick Kelly – bass
• Alex Casnoff – (additional keyboards on One for the Ages)
• Ryan Parrish – sax
• Coldwater Canyon Youth Choir (additional vocals on "Please Don't Fuck Up My World")