diff --git a/tests/_util.py b/tests/_util.py
index <HASH>..<HASH> 100644
--- a/tests/_util.py
+++ b/tests/_util.py
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+import logging
+
 from docutils.nodes import (
     list_item, paragraph,
 )
@@ -15,6 +17,12 @@ from releases import (
 from releases.util import make_app, changelog2dict
 
 
+# Mute Sphinx's own logging, as it makes test output quite verbose (many
+# 'Running Sphinx' / 'loading pickled environment' messages since we recreate
+# new app objects each time for a clean context.)
+logging.getLogger('sphinx.application').setLevel(logging.ERROR)
+
+
 def inliner(app=None):
     app = app or make_app()
     return Mock(document=Mock(settings=Mock(env=Mock(app=app))))
Mute sphinx logging in our test suite