Manic Sparkles has all the focus of a schizophrenic with really good music taste. Through sixteen tracks, it runs the gamut from charging indie/punk to segments nearing twee-pop yet it never stops being an absorbing listen, despite the surprisingly glorious lack of focus. There’s always the presence of indie-pop running through these songs veins but it becomes obscured in delightful ways.
After a blistering opening quartet of tracks, Manic Sparkles could have easily just tailed off but Cinderpop are too smart (and too good) to do something as cheap as front-loading. The rest of Manic Sparkles continues to see Cinderpop revolt against the idea of holding back and they stretch themselves into new and intriguing territories. While this may not be the best release of the year, it’s certainly one of my favorites. Don’t be surprised if they follow in the footsteps of Rilo Kiley.