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THE POLYPHONIC SPREE - The Fragile Army
| Popmatters |
| The Polyphonic Spree, as an idea, is incredibly unwieldy. It’s likely that it’s that very idea, and not quite as much the sales or the music, that has managed to get The Polyphonic Spree dropped from major record labels twice already in its short, two album career. How do you promote a “band” with 24 members? How do you give that ever-desired “edge” to a happy-to-a-fault collective with a harpist? You don’t. They’re a headache, a nuisance whose sales numbers don’t justify their upkeep....full text |
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| PitchFork |
| Does size matter? Now three albums in, the Polyphonic Spree would appear to be the indie rock band uniquely positioned to answer that question. The Dallas symphonic-pop chorale weren't the first under-the-radar group to mimic the overflowing orchestration of sunshine-pop acts the Fifth Dimension and the Partridge Family; Danielson did this in the 90s. But the Spree's 2002 debut coincided with a period of new respect for over-sized lineups, from Broken Social Scene and the Arcade Fire to Architecture in Helsinki and I'm From Barcelona, with even Belle & Sebastian going Godspell for a minute there. Surely indie rock nerds couldn't just be overcompensating....full text |
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| CokeMachineGlow |
| till full of trite but brotherly advice, Polyphonic ringleader Tim DeLaughter's insistence that he speak about his personal experiences in terms of "the world" and "life" is stranger under the slightly dimmer light of this, his sprawling collective's third album, and its scale-back of former zeal. The novelistic simplicity of the polyphonic concept excused The Beginning Stages Of. (2002) by giving the impression that the songwriting and lyrics possessed some degree of ironic self-awareness. Together We're Heavy (2004) was more psychedelic in its noodling, but the basic concept stayed the same. With The Fragile Army, though the songwriting is more polished, the band has infused what was supposed to be silly, good-vibe encouragement with the import of a "Message," subjecting DeLaughter's words to the harsher scrutiny that that implies....full text |
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