It all started with John Candy. Some 31 years after the comedian’s death, Jim Ward was watching a documentary about him, and in it Macaulay Culkin—who had starred in a number of films with the late actor—said something that really stuck with the musician.

So much so, infact, that, after months of pondering and overthinking what Sparta’s sixth full-length album would be named, Ward decided that those very words—“cut a silhouette”—should be the title.“He said that when he met John Candy, he just entered your brain and cut a silhouette,” says Ward.“Like, he just left an impression is the way I see it. And when I heard him say that, I was like 'Oh! That’s what I want this record to be.’ I want it to leave an impression.

At this point in my career, that's what I yearn for. I'm working so hard to make something meaningful to me,and I really want people to get a chance to feel it as well.”