Spirits and the Melchizedek Children ‎– So Happy It's Sad lp

Spirits and the Melchizedek Children ‎– So Happy It's Sad LP

"On its latest record, So Happy, It's Sad, the East Atlanta six-piece documented its progression into a band that's become tighter and increasingly willing to take creative risks. Nearly three years since the ethereal breakout record We are Here to Save YOU! cemented the band's place on the local circuit, Spirits, also known as "SATMC," are now hoping to spread the group's music throughout the South and beyond. "This ball gets bigger and bigger," frontman Jason Robert Elliott says. "It's scary and there's a lot of risk involved at hand. But the more and more we're doing this, the easier it is to swallow."

Despite the band's eerie and haunting sound, Elliott began the project in search of a tranquil mindset. At the end of one particular all-nighter, he began strumming his guitar on his bed's corner to calm his mind down as the sun slowly rose. Out of that late-night inspiration, Elliott eventually recruited his first bandmates before going through multiple incarnations that ranged from a quartet to sextet, which now includes keyboardist Chris Case, drummer Bryan Fielden, and bassist Joe McNeill.

Although Elliott came up with the record title a long time ago, its meaning truly came into focus last winter on a trip with his 6-year-old son to the Bonneville Salt Flats. On a lengthy walk, the songwriter watched his child become captivated with the simple joys found in the lonely, desolate, and peaceful northwest Utah salt pan. It proved to be a moment that Elliott's girlfriend captured from afar — and soon was chosen for the record's cover.

"You can't have one without the other," Elliott says about the album title's meaning. "It's almost comical. It's special, it's intimate, and it rolls off the tongue well. But it's terrifying, almost destructive."" - Max Blau