Chop Suey Presents: Sparklmami with Dani Offline Thursday, February 25 Sparklmami is a Texas-born, Chicago-based musician and visual artist. Her songwriting draws from her confessional subconscious, exploring themes of perception and identity over her band’s improvisational mix of experimental soul, Mexican bolero, and jazz funk. Her acclaimed debut record in this body – featuring beloved singles “running”, “no te vayas”, and “penso en voce” – invites listeners into a lush world of reverie, nostalgia, and possibility. It’s a sound that pulls from myriad places: the glimmering, verdant jazz made in 1970s Brazil, the open-hearted Mexican boleros she grew up listening to at home, the whimsy of Indian singer runa laila, and of course the improvisations and ideas of her bandmates. Sparklmami’s imagination drives the record, especially when she revisits her early life equipped with the wisdom she’s acquired in the years since. Singing in both Spanish and English, Sparklmami dives into the murky and wondrous world of her childhood memories. Whether she’s recounting a surreal dream of a man hugging the house to the point of breaking it on “It Was 5 AM” or bearing witness to a loved one’s pain on “Fajas,” she conveys a sense of emotional turbulence and surreal childlike perception while also singing with the poise, understanding, and nuance of a grown woman. In This Body is a record rooted in connection: in deep love for your community, your musical collaborators, and yourself. But it’s also one of undeniable loss. “When I made this album, I was figuring out so much on my own while still grieving my past,” she says. “People with unresolved pain and grief can’t help but pass it on. To love is to grieve, to grieve is to love.”