New York, NY (Top40 Charts) "Austin's Sweet
Spirit oscillate between garage melodicism and dizzy fury, and people have taken notice." - Stereogum
"The musical embodiment of a pep rally, the promising band is all arms-in-the-air shout-alongs." - Los Angeles Times
"Ellis has a bit of a dramatic, cabaret indie-rock flair, belting out hooks and harmonies with a lot of conviction." - WXPN, Philadelphia
On October 16, the Austin-based nine-piece powerhouse Sweet
Spirit will release their debut album Cokomo on Nine Mile Records. Today, Cokomo is available via an exclusive stream at Noisey, along with an interview with singer and primary songwriter Sabrina Ellis discussing the group's early influences, touring with Spoon, and the importance of Jimmy Buffet.
Listen: Sweet
Spirit - Cokomo
https://noisey.vice.com/blog/sweet-spirits-nine-person-rock-party
An incredible mix of garage rock, pop, doo-wop and dance-punk, Cokomo was produced by Mike McCarthy, who produced the band's self-titled 2014 EP and is best known for his work with Spoon, Heartless Bastards, and ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead.
Recently, Consequence of Sound premiered the album's debut single "Baby When I Close My Eyes. Stereogum called the track an "eminently listenable piece of sharply orchestrated power-pop, and it's got a bit of a
New Pornographers feeling about it" while Indie Shuffle said "they're doing all sorts of of weird and wonderful things to this blend of space age, disco-tinted indie pop." The raucous album opening "Take Me To A Party" also debuted on Culture Collide.
Cokomo follows the release of the band's self-titled EP and a 7" collaboration with Britt
Daniel of
Spoon that garnered praise from Billboard, The Los Angeles Times, The Austin-American Statesman, WXPN, KUTX and many more.
Ironically, the nine-piece band started as a solo project. Austin singer Sabrina Ellis was going through some distressing times: the band that she fronted for several years,
Bobby Jealousy, with her then husband was disintegrating along with their relationship.
Ellis started Sweet
Spirit to hone her ability to write and perform on her own. "It was supposed to be focused on me writing solo, and performing with the guitar," she explains. "But it didn't stay that way for long."
When Ellis started Sweet Spirit, she was still writing and performing with her longstanding garage punk band A Giant Dog. AGD Co-founder Andrew Cashen was intrigued by Ellis' new emphasis on soul, country and pop music as touchstones for Sweet
Spirit and quickly climbed on board the project. "I'm very comfortable doing loud and fast," Cashen says, "so this is uncharted territory for me." Shortly thereafter, the band added four more members and evenutally two horn players who were recruited for a
Marvin Gaye tribute show.
Cokomo is the perfect snapshot of where the band is right now: a confident blend of garage rock, glammy pop, bouncy soul, and Ellis out front, owning every song. Through the evolution of Sweet
Spirit she's learned how to find her own voice while shining in the context of a supremely talented group.
Tour Dates:
Oct 8 - Gasa Gasa, New Orleans, LA
Oct 10 - Flicker Bar, Athens, GA
Oct 11 - the Basement, Nashville, TN
Oct 12 - Local 506, Chapel Hill, NC
Oct 14 - Break Thru
Radio CMJ Showcase at Cake Shop, New York, NY
Oct 14 - The Saint, Asbury Park, NJ
Oct 15 - Cake Shop, New York, NY Official CMJ showcase
Oct 16 - Don Pedro's, Brooklyn, NY
Oct 17 - Gallery 788, Baltimore
Oct 18 - Kung Fu Necktie, Philadelphia, PA
Oct 20 - Mahall's, Cleveland, OH
Oct 21 - Empty Bottle, Chicago, IL
Oct 23 - The Foundry, Dallas, TX
Oct 24 - ABGB, Austin, TX
Nov 17 - Gallery 788, Baltimore, MD
www.sweetspiritatx.com
www.twitter.com/sweetspiritband
www.facebook.com/sweetspirittheband
