Ironically, the ni… Read Full Bio ↴Sweet Spirit is an American band from Austin, TX.
Ironically, the nine-piece band Sweet Spirit 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. Everything Ellis was working toward was suddenly in free-fall.
She 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 says. 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 and 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.”
Together Ellis and Cashen began turning out songs at a breakneck pace. They assembled a core band of four more members, rehearsed religiously, and started playing gigs around town. Immediately they began turning heads and packing clubs.
Within six months they had gotten noticed by one of Austin’s most famous musical residents, Britt Daniel of Spoon. In October of 2014, Daniel asked the band to perform at Spoon’s “secret” tour kick off show at the cramped rock club Hotel Vegas for their latest record They Want My Soul, and Sweet Spirit was quickly thrown into the local buzzmill.
Ex-Spoon producer and friend Mike McCarthy was also an early devotee. He met with the band and invited them to record demos at his studio to shop around. Those early demos were so strong, that with minimal mixing, they became the band’s eponymous 10″ EP. As Austin accolades continued to pile up into 2015, the band was asked to perform a cover set of Marvin Gaye songs for a special event. They added two horn players and a backup singer to recreate Gaye’s music – Ellis and Cashen were immediately enchanted. They asked the auxiliary players to stay, making what was once a solo project a full-fledged nine piece band!
Two months later, Sweet Spirit was added as an official SXSW showcase act without a full-length record or ever having applied. National attention fromEsquire, the L.A. Times and other outlets solidified their status as Austin’s “next great rock band” and earned them a spot as the opener on 12 Midwest and West Coast Spoon tour dates.
Meanwhile, the band and McCarthy finished work on the band’s full-length debut Cokomo, as well as a two song collaboration between them and Daniel, which became a limited edition 7″ release that received praise from Stereogum, Consequence Of Sound, SPIN, and other outlets.
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 – or, as Pop Press International put it, “the power of balancing autonomy with cooperation.” Cokomo comes out in Nine Mile Records on October 16. The band will be on tour in the U.S. through the end of the year.
If You Wanna
Sweet Spirit Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
we could have a place in Mexico
Smoke marijuana
Never tell a single soul where we go
Wish I was a little bit more like you
I could have a little bit more of you
Keep a straight face when you're in pain
Why you procrast-a?
Nake kinetica fade and drink champagne
Wish I was a little bit more like you
I could have a little bit more of you
If you wanna
We could have a place in Mexico
Smoke marijuana
Never tell a single soul where we go
Wish I was a little bit more like you
I could have a little bit more of you
The lyrics to Sweet Spirit's song "If You Wanna" describe a desire for escapism and a willingness to forsake societal norms to achieve this. The first two lines of the chorus set the tone for this theme, suggesting a place in Mexico and the use of marijuana as a means of escape. The line "Never tell a single soul where we go" further reinforces this idea of secrecy and exclusivity, creating an aura of mystery and danger around the singer's desire to escape.
The second verse of the song picks up on this theme, describing the singer's wish to emulate someone else's carefree and adventurous personality. The line "I kinda have-ta/Keep a straight face when you're in pain" suggests a burden that needs to be borne in order to maintain a facade of normality, while "Why you procrast-a?/Make kinetica fade and drink champagne" hints at an undercurrent of dissatisfaction that cannot be quelled by conventional methods. In both verses, the recurring refrain "Wish I was a little bit more like you/I could have a little bit more of you" drives home the idea of longing for something that seems just out of reach.
Overall, "If You Wanna" is a song that speaks to the universal human desire for escape and self-expression. By using vivid imagery and clever wordplay, Sweet Spirit crafts a compelling narrative that captures both the pain of conformity and the allure of rebellion.
Line by Line Meaning
If you wanna
If you're interested
we could have a place in Mexico
we can find a place in Mexico to stay together
Smoke marijuana
we can smoke marijuana together
Never tell a single soul where we go
we'll keep our rendezvous a secret from everyone
Wish I was a little bit more like you
I admire your carefree spirit and wish I could be more like you
I could have a little bit more of you
I would like to spend more time with you
I kinda have-ta
I feel obligated to
Keep a straight face when you're in pain
I need to maintain a serious demeanor even when you're hurting
Why you procrast-a?
Why do you delay?
Nake kinetica fade and drink champagne
Let's enjoy the moment and drink champagne
Contributed by Elena R. Suggest a correction in the comments below.