Sweet Spirit is a band modeled after the last great American rock band.* However reminiscent their sound may be of other bands who have contributed to the American songbook over the years, they are singularly a group with style all their own- brash, slick, beaded with sweat and sex appeal. The sextet is led by guitar-hook galaxy-head Andrew Cashen and human panther Sabrina Ellis and their sound applies body-moving logic to shimmering pop-R’nB guitars, syrupy ye-ye melody revivals, and wire funk grooves, presented with neon light-tinted production that assumes the rushing dance floor lights spinning overhead are the harbingers of a new, more hopeful dawn. Their third LP Trinidad is named after Ellis’s great-grandmother as well as an implicit celebration of their Mexican American heritage. While retaining the youthful, cock-eyed swagger of their previous releases, Trinidad is also more varied in its approach, electing to elevate somber moments over the mischievous, disco carnival of previous releases. For comparison's sake, and in the spirit of ‘80s nostalgia, which the band often leans into, if 2017’s St. Mojo is Blues Brothers, then Trinidad is Big. More mature, a little bittersweet, but still a hell of a good time. The stage is set by opener “Behold” which features a very cinematic sort of “curtain-pull” progression at the outset before allowing Ellis’s voice to take off, soaring amongst the stars, tailed by a seltzery tremolo and crisscrossing downstroking guitars. Soon after, the breathy, black-top pounding R’nB of “No Dancing” percolates into your ears with fizzy soul grooves occasionally punctuated by a canon-fire bass drum. Next, you'll want to check out the krauty, circuit slide ‘n glide of “Y2K,” and the crying, electric cowgirl soul of “Only Love.” When it’s finally safe to bridge the social distance that currently resides between us,** you’re all invited to my place for a barbeque and we are spinning Trinidad until the sun comes winking at us over the horizon.
*In case you were curious, the last great American rock band imho is Ellis’s and Cashen’s other group A Giant Dog, and also, depending on my mood, King Kahn & BBQ Show.
**Which exists for health and safety reasons due to COVID-19, and which we should only disregard once we know it is entirely safe to do so.
Get a copy of Trinidad from Merge Records here.
