For those who are familiar with The Polyphonic Spree’s live shows and have been to the outdoor stage at Emo’s Austin, the first question you may be asking about their set on Thursday night may be this: “How the hell did they fit a Spree concert into that sweatbox?”
The second question you may then be asking is the first question of those who have been to one of the band’s gigs but haven’t been to the outdoor stage at Emo’s: “Is it true that they’ve lost the robes?”
The third question you may ask is perhaps the most important one, being asked by Spree fans of all walks: “Is their new stuff any good?”
The answers are: Claustrophobically, yes, and hell yes.
If you’re completely uninitiated into the world of The Polyphonic Spree, a brief history: the band was formed in 2000 by former Tripping Daisy frontman Tim Delaughter, whose life was changed by the overdose death of bandmate Wes Berggren. The experiment in orchestral pop music blossomed in the following years into a two-dozen member band with a cult following (“cult” being the operative word, as the band performed all of their live shows wearing full-length robes) in the Dallas music scene. In 2002, David Bowie personally selected the band to perform at that year’s Meltdown festival. Since then, their popularity has grown, their music has appeared on TV commercials and film soundtracks, and the band itself has performed in such varied places as the Nobel Prize ceremonies and an episode of Scrubs.
Any attempt to describe the sound and vibe of the Polyphonic Spree would include words like “orchestral,” “psychedelic,” “gospel,” and “groovy,” but would ultimately fail to accurately characterize the band. One thing most people can agree on: they’re a hell of a lot of fun to listen to. Because sometimes – indeed, a lot of the time lately – musical escapism isn’t just something to listen to, it’s the best thing to listen to.
The Spree isn’t universally loved, however. In 2004, Entertainment Weekly named their sophomore album the second-worst album of the year after William Hung’s Inspiration. Their Flaming Lips-meets-Bryan Wilson sound has netted the band such lovely descriptors as campy, artificial, and, my personal favorite from a friend of mine, “like bubbles without a cause.” Art, I suppose, is subjective. But I’ll take Bowie’s word over EW’s any day of the week.
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