The beauty of The Devil Makes Three lies in how they take an old musical genre and, by putting their own stamp on it, transform it into something that lives and breathes again, passing the torch to a new generation, just as American rock fans discovered pioneers like Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Buddy Holly from the first wave of British Invasion bands. With their latest album, Spirits, the band continues this tradition by incorporating their signature punk, folk, and bluegrass along with country and singer-songwriter influences. "This is what we decided to do. We wanted to use these musical forms to talk about current issues," explains Pete Bernhard. "Folk music should speak to what’s happening now, just as it did when Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan did." The song titles alone describe the band's return to a stripped-down, drumless sound and songs that reflect the ongoing struggle to survive amid the uncertainties of the current volatile climate: "Dark Gets the Best of You," "Divide and Conquer," "Ghosts are Weak," "Hard Times," "I Love Doing Drugs," "Poison Well," and "The Devil Wins." The tracks were recorded at Dreamland, in a converted church outside Woodstock, New York, which offered its own haunted moments, with plenty of scary storms and lightning. "There is definitely a theme of ghosts and death that runs through this album," Bernhard acknowledged, who lost his mother, brother, and closest childhood friend during the making of the album. "There is also a good amount of political material, a reflection on how people are divided these days, just trying to find common ground. Not being able to play our music live led to deep reflections."