I'm going to just go ahead assume that this is the first time a "Kool-aid" joke has been used in a Polyphonic Spree review. Anyway, don't drink it.What a curious bunch; upwards of 30 people wearing Technicolor dreamcoats, playing instruments, dancing, singing, laughing, smiling and clapping and they're _not_ waiting for the comet? Perhaps I'm just a hardened cynic but the spectacle of The Polyphonic Spree, with it's almost manic happiness, makes me assume that their practice space has some kind of gas leak. I suppose it's possible that they really are just loving life and are happy with the notion that all of it's problems can be solved with a tambourine and a sunny disposition. I can barely understand what the songs are about, but the theme seems to be that the power of love and the human spirit can overcome anything.
For their third full length album The Spree have ditched the gowns in favor of black military garb with a big ol' hearts and crosses on 'em. Now they look like a militant cult. I'm just sayin'. The album, "The Fragile Army" slides itself in among the current run of politically scented albums but instead of coming right out and criticizing the government the songs focus more on how to get along _while_ there's a corrupt institution reading our mail and stealing out liquids. The idea that if we all try to get along that everything will be ok, a kind of idealistic, passive activism, is neither refreshing or particularly realistic. As on their previous recordings the idea of a global hug is prevalent throughout, but no definite instructions on how to achieve said hug are found. The music itself is the standard lightweight rock with the signature symphonic embellishments and choral arrangement. Sometimes it works in their favor; "Section 22 (Running Away)" is a bright, anthem that sounds like a large-scale children's pageant. Sometimes it doesn't work; "Section 28 (Guaranteed Nightlite)" is an awkward metaphor that sounds like a large-scale children's pageant. Overall, the songs, while grandiose and peppy, seem to aim for a different plane than most people operate on. Perpetually sunny, hopeful, optimistic and almost maddeningly gleeful. In a world where we're supposed to be afraid all the time, of terrorists, child molesters, drugs, gangs, immigrants, gays and poisoned South African toothpaste, it almost seems obscene for a group of people the be this cheerful. But even if they're not a cult of perpetually joyous comet chasers, even if they're truly human with pain and anger and despair hidden beneath their costumes and it's all just an act, the question is: Don't we need _someone_ to look on the bright side?Puffmagic gives "The Fragile Army" by The Polyphonic Spree 3 out of 5 Rob Gordons
Mog Score 6/10"The Indie Equation":http://www.theindieequation.blogspot.com
:http://photos1.blogger.com/img/199/2904/1024/Polyphonic%20Spree.jpgThis equation was done back in '05, so I just reused it.
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