Local musicians join forces to create retro-pop outfit Super Sparkle

Breaking down the who’s who of local six-piece band Super Sparkle is a refresher course in the local music scene. Don’t worry; there won’t be a test.

Karli Ingersoll and Max Harnishfeger play together in Cathedral Pearls, while Scott Ingersoll and Harnishfeger perform as Water Monster. Scott and Karli also perform solo, as Scott Ryan and Windoe, respectively.

Claire Fieberg performs in Mama Doll and is the bar manager at the Bartlett, owned by Karli and her husband Caleb, who is also Scott’s brother.

Adrian Saludes performs with Scott Ingersoll at church, and Caleb Brown came to the project through mutual acquaintances.

Super Sparkle will release the “Songs Out the Window” EP Saturday at the Bartlett.

Scott Ingersoll credits his sister-in-law as the driving force behind the creation of Super Sparkle.

She wanted to perform while husband/Windoe drummer Caleb Ingersoll was on tour with Joseph. She and Fieberg had already talked about forming a project together, so she reached out to Harnishfeger with the idea of taking people from other groups and creating a new band.

Harnishfeger reached out to Scott Ingersoll, who reached out to Saludes.

“It was mainly an excuse to get him playing bass in a band,” Scott Ingersoll said. “Because he’s very good and not doing anything else right now as far as music goes.”

After a few shows as a quintet, Super Sparkle added Brown to the lineup on saxophone.

The band, already familiar with using music as a creative outlet, decided to view Super Sparkle as an outlet for pop instincts they often ignored when writing for their other projects.

“As far as our music and art goes, we all take ourselves pretty seriously sometimes and subject matter can be pretty heavy,” Ingersoll said. “It was almost an experiment in what would it be like to follow all of those pop songwriting instincts that sometimes you feel like would be too on the nose or you ignore because you feel like it would be too obvious.”

The group collectively decided to shoot for a retro pop vibe, with hints of soul and the oldies thrown in, and set to work writing.

Scott Ingersoll, Karli Ingersoll and Harnishfeger are the primary songwriters, though the entire band contributes, suggesting an idea for a chorus here, a bridge there.

“We basically have the people that are writing the skeleton of the song and then the band gets together to flesh it out,” Scott Ingersoll said. “We’re hoping to see more songwriting contributions from everybody in the future.”

On “Songs Out the Window,” the Ingersolls and Harnishfeger share vocal duties, with the two Ingersolls singing a fun call and response on “Destination.” Retro is definitely the name of the game on the EP, with Brown adding a subtle dash of soul throughout, though songs like “Kid’s Not Giving Up” lean more toward rock than pop.

While each member of the band boasts name recognition in their own right, Super Sparkle’s retro take on indie-pop has brought even more fans into the fold, some of whom Ingersoll said may not have necessarily been fans of his solo work or Water Monster, for instance.

“I do feel like we’re, in a lot of ways, reaching different audiences than we would with our other projects, not to say there’s no crossover,” he said. “It speaks to the band having a little bit broader appeal in its sound.”

Balancing Super Sparkle with their other projects can be difficult for the band members, but it’s something the six piece is working on making a priority, for themselves and their fans.

“Everybody’s got stuff going on, but because it’s something that we’re enjoying so much and it seems like people are enjoying it, we’re going to put as much into it as we can,” Ingersoll said.