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 THE POLYPHONIC SPREE THE BEGINNING STAGES OF (2002) Rating (Out of 10): 9 Tracklisting: Have A Day/It's The Sun/Days Like This/La La/Middle Of The Day/Hanging Around Part 1/Hanging Around Part 2/Soldier Girl/Light & Day/A Long Day The Polyphonic Spree are a 24 piece choir/orchestra/choral group, but before you start envisioning 50 year old men with beards singing gospel hymns, they are not like any other choir you will have ever come across before. Sure, they wear white robes and sing in harmony, but that’s where the similarity ends. The Polyphonic Spree are a 24 piece ‘choral symphonic pop band’ as the blurb on the CD cover tells us, they are based in Texas, USA, and they are absolutely fantastic. Pushing back the boundaries of popular music, they combine indie pop tunes with glorious harmonies and orchestral instrumentation including flutes, French horns, and trombones creating an amazing, unique, uplifting sound. The lead singer, Tim De Laughter, is incredibly enthusiastic and charismatic. When performing live he jumps up and down and runs around the stage, and it makes you want to jump up and down with him. They’re those sort of songs. They’re the happiest, most positive cheery songs I’ve ever heard. And the lyrics are fantastic. ‘Hey it’s the sun, and it makes me shine, it makes me smile’. The polyphonic Spree are the only band in the entire world that could get away with lyrics like that. For someone who grew up listening to The Smiths, Nick Drake, and Jeff Buckley, I never thought I’d find myself happily singing along to ‘sunshine, suicide is a shame”. But the songs are so wonderful and beautiful that you really believe it, and you wish you were on stage with them singing your heart out in your long white robe. And amongst all these wonderful, happy songs is one of the most beautiful love songs I have ever heard. ‘Days Like This’ is quiet and beautiful and delicate and I absolutely love it. It’s the slowest paced track on the album, and so filled with emotion that I’m not sure whether to smile or cry. ‘Hanging Around’, ‘Soldier Girl’, and ‘Light and Day’, are all wonderful tracks, but it’s ‘Days Like This’ that gets me every time. If this album was 9 tracks long it would be absolutely perfect. I’m not sure what’s going on in the last track, if someone’s having a laugh or trying to be clever, but it’s just a strange noise that last for thirty six minutes. When I first heard it I kept listening to see if anything was going to happen, but nothing does, and I rarely listen to it at all now. ‘The Beginning Stages of…. ‘ is an absolutely fantastic album. It is such an incredible debut that I wonder what they’re going to do next. It’s going to be a difficult album to follow up, but I really believe they can do it, and I’m expecting great things from them. One thing’s for certain, if this is just the beginning stages, I’m definitely hanging around for the main act! Send A Comment BACK TO INDEX BACK TO MUSIC REVIEWS INDEX |