RECORDINGS Sweet Spirit Trinidad The latest release by one of Austin’s sharpest and most prolific musical troupes finds drummer Danny Blanchard focusing on the groove. Sweet Spirit is the dance floor–friendly pop inverse of fellow Austin band A Giant Dog. Both groups feature mostly the same members, notably the human hurricane that is lead vocalist Sabrina Ellis, but drummer Danny Blanchard shelves A Giant Dog’s early punk playbook in favor of Steve Gadd and LinnDrum vibes for Sweet Spirit. The closest Sweet Spirit gets to the music from the namesake island of their new LP, Trinidad (Merge Records), is the synthy slow calypso “No Dancing,” which Blanchard executes to sound like programmed parts, complete with overdubbed cymbal crashes and tom fills. Similar 1980s vibes, like the offbeat accented 6/8 groove on “Fingerprints” or the programming on “Only Love,” might make you wonder if you just walked into a high school […]

September 2020 Issue