Sweet Spirit

A rambunctious, multi-layered indie combo led by Sabrina Ellis and Andrew Cashen, Sweet Spirit debuted in 2015 as a side project of Austin rockers A Giant Dog. Claiming influences ranging from Robyn to Roy Orbison and T. Rex, the band fused boisterous pop with rock & roll pomp while adding dashes of everything from country to disco across their three full-length releases. Seeking an outlet for experiments that fell outside of A Giant Dog's barroom punk wheelhouse, co-frontpeople Ellis and Cashen initially put together a massive nine-piece version of Sweet Spirit and built up a reputation around Austin in advance of their 2015 debut, Cokomo, on Austin indie Nine Mile Records. That same year, a two-song collaborative single with Spoon's Britt Daniel brought them further attention, as did their Steve Berlin-produced 2017 follow-up, St. Mojo. Shifting focus back to their roles in A Giant Dog for a few years, Sweet Spirit re-emerged in 2020, this time as a six-piece on Merge Records. Trinidad, their debut for the label, arrived in May of that year. ~ Timothy Monger