Although it began as the solo acoustic project of Atlanta-based singer-songwriter Jason Elliott, Spirits And The Melchizedek Children has become something far more enormous. The six-piece ensemble crafts hazy, haunting tunes that frequently creep past the eight-minute mark, richly-layered meditations that float in the cold zone between forlornness and a vaster cosmic awe. On its upcoming sophomore album So Happy, It’s Sad—streaming in full below—Spirits taps into that purgatorial ghostliness. Aided by the piercing vocals of Mlny Parsonz of fellow Atlanta band and Relapse signee Royal Thunder, Elliott and crew wade through shimmering quietude—and frequently build into a cyclical, ritualistic roar that comes across like a Southern Sigur Rós.
So Happy, It’s Sad will be self-released March 4.