Sprites formed in 2002 following the unspectacular implosion of Jason Korzen's former band Barcelona. Jason spent a long winter in his basement recording demos on a four track. The resulting demos turned into a full length LP for March Records, "Starling, Spiders, Tiger and Sprites" that was released in early 2003. The album was produced and recorded by longtime friend and sometime collaborator, trevor/hollAnd.

"Starling" was a departure from Jason's work with Barcelona mostly in the sparse instrumentation. The album features mainly acoustic guitars, melodica, a lone snare drum and the occasional trumpet. The instruments and the more introspective lyrics reflect the manner in which the songs were conceived: written quietly in a damp and chilly basement.

Song higlights from the record include "Following Her Around" (which appeared on Little Darla vol. 19), an ode to times spent record hunting at the now defunct Vinyl Ink records in Silver Spring, Maryland; "Make a Baby With Me", an admittedly silly song about Jason's desire to conceive an entire soccer team; "Ask Me to Dance"; and "Do It Yourself", a song about being frustrated with one's bandmates.

People have frequently assumed that "Do It Yourself" was written specifically about Barcelona, but its not entirely the case. The song is really just about the difficulty of writing songs with other people, the compromises involved, and the inevitable disappointment. Jason felt so strongly about this that Sprites, the band, was intentionally formed with a changing cast of characters. Not a backing band, but a group of friends who could come together in different arrangements, write songs together, perform, and hang out. Nobody should ever have to be kicked out. The band would never have to break up. Since playing their first show, the group has at one time or another included Christian Scanniello, Ivan Ramiscal, Kevin Alvir, Armin Pruessner, Derek Strausbaugh, and Reid Dossinger. Jason and Amy Korzen have remained throughout. Raygun the Scottish Terrier performed on the "Starling" record, and Kennedy Korzen makes her debut on "Modern Gameplay".

The group has performed live sporadically. Sprites have appeared at CMJ and toured briefly with the Ocean Blue. They played at the San Francisco Pop Festival in 2003. The same year, they toured throughout the summer with The Lucksmiths. During shows, they have sometimes performed covers by bands such as Fat Tulips, The Pastels, Flesh For Lulu, and the Hummingbirds.

A six song e.p. "Bionic Hands" was released in 2004 on Spanish label, Lejos Discos, for no other reason than Jason Korzen has a tremendous love for the country of Spain, and he found Lejos Discos to be wonderful people. "Bionic Hands" includes the title track, a sad song about the downside of mechanical hands; "These Shoes Keep Walking Back to You", the true story of Korzen's sneaker troubles; "Love is Dead", a cover of the song by the Godfathers; and "Maybe We Should Move to Canada", which if you're a liberal American living under George W. Bush is a song that need not be explained to you.

Sprites spent 2005 writing songs for the newest lp, "Modern Gameplay". Sprites fans should be forewarned about the new lp. Just like "Starling", the songs on "Modern Gameplay" reflect the way in which they were written and recorded. For one thing, the majority of the songs were fleshed out with the entire band, banging them out in a live setting in the rehearsal space. For another, the album was recorded and produced by Jason who spent months and months working on the record. The resulting album is not the quiet, acoustic record that the debut is. "Modern Gameplay" is more electronic and slightly more energized. The constant is the lyrics and the content of the songs.

Song highlights on "Modern Gameplay" include "George Romero", a tribute to Jason's all time favorite movie Dawn of the Dead; "Overclockers of the World Unite", which if you know what overclocking is well you know what the song is going to be about; "I Started a Blog Nobody Read", the true story of Jason's many failed and unread blogs; "Shirley Beans", the true chronicle and history of the entire relationship with indie pop star Shirley Beans; and a new updated version of "Bionic Hands", just because they felt like it.

Life continues. "Modern Gameplay" will be released in 2006.