Description
Label Review.
2020 debut album. Pop. Also available on CD.
Our Overview.
‘Trinidad’ marks the Merge Records debut of Sweet Spirit, this mighty sextet from Austin, Texas, and their third album in total. The songs are stripped down yet more intricate than ever before. It’s a pop record made by punk rockers sonically happy but lyrically bitter. Lustful, sassy, and passionate. Touting inspirations as varied as Prince, T. Rex, William Onyeabor, ABBA, Roy Orbison, Shintaro Sakamoto, Francoise Hardy, and Robyn, Sweet Spirit have created an album that pulsates with more ‘LinnDrum’ and synth than guitar.
The six members of Sweet Spirit like pranks, glitter eyeshadow, and good stories. They also enjoy making music, as evidenced by the 12 bands they collectively play in. But above all, they love dancing, that place between exorcise and exercise. Sweet Spirit’s famously raucous and sweaty live shows satisfy both their own and their audience’s need for connection and release. “When people dance, they are fulfilling a human desire where instinct and culture meet. Dance and music are built into the mechanics of being human. We are born instinctively with these impulses. To dance is to speak unspoken agreements,” says Sweet Spirit front person Sabrina Ellis.
From the opening riff of “Behold”, Sabrina, Andrew, Danny, Josh, Jon, and Jake establish their slightly cynical world of fantasy, hard truths, and all manner of longing. “No Dancing” bemoans the lack of magic in the club, while live favorite “Fingerprints” sets out to “get you away from your lover.” Author/composer Mark Mallman of Minneapolis says, “Those who believe in demons see demons. In music, the demon is silence. In nature, snakes that appear to dance are actually fighting. Palm trees that kiss the beach during hurricane winds appear to dance when set to music in a video. There is no genre to dancing, only to its cause. In this instance, the cause is called Sweet Spirit.”
Tracklisting: Behold / Fear Is a Lie / No Dancing / Fingerprints / Llorando / Y2K / Only Love / Coincidence / Empty Bottle