CD Review

Somewhere between The Flaming Lips, a P.T. Anderson film, and a roadside evangelist with acid drenched Kool-Aid, lies The Polyphonic Spree. It’s an eerily inviting place - one that envelops you like a warm blanket, but won’t let you leave in the morning.

When the preacher-like Tim DeLaughter and his white-robed Partridge family burst on the radar last year with their debut album, The Beginning Stages of…The Polyphonic Spree, it seemed yet another novelty act had grabbed the momentary spotlight. But here we are a year later and the Spree have already toured with Bowie, appeared on NBC’s Scrubs, and just released their follow-up record, Together We’re Heavy.

This new album picks up right where they left off (literally…the first track is Section 11), and exposes the rather musical oddity as a legitimate, contemporary art-rock band. The melodrama and symphonic revelry they create is taken up a notch, rising and falling repeatedly beneath DeLaughter’s self-help lyrics and best Wayne Coyne impressions. As the orchestra builds to crescendo after crescendo, the chorus bellows with bumper sticker philosophy: “Don’t ever think you’re the only one when times are tough.” “Keep the light on in your soul.” “You gotta be good, you gotta be strong.” “Everyone wants to know love.” Yeah, it’s a lot of grandiose thematics spliced with raspy inspirational-speak. It's fun, it's light, it's unique, but I bet if you play it backwards there’s a girl battling pink robots in there somewhere.