It’s all gone a little bit dark down in Dallas.
Once famous for their all white robes, universally representative of peace and tranquillity, The Polyphonic Spree are back with a new look and something important to say. Looking more like a gang of militarised fascists than a group of harmonious spreaders of love, The Polyphonic Spree are set to take on the world with their new album, ‘The Fragile Army’. And although it still sounds like The Polyphonic Spree of old, there is definitely something different about it. Something has changed.
When Clash speaks to the leader of the gang, Tim DeLaughter, he is working on the score to a new film in his hometown recording studio, The Triplex. It is safe to say that he is excited about the new album and the development of his band which has matured after the success of 2002’s ‘The Beginning Stages of…” and the disappointment of 2004’s ‘Together We Are Heavy’.
“We’re becoming a great vintage,” asserts the ever-optimistic DeLaughter. “I believe we are coming into our own. We’re seven years into this group now and it’s starting to get a really good feeling about it. The best is definitely yet to come – I’m feeling we’re going to be one of those bands who is going to make a great contribution.”
So what’s changed exactly? “I think the music is a departure from the previous two recordings”, explains DeLaughter, “this one’s more electric and a lot more representative of us live. In the past we would have played these songs as a high-energy rock show, but on record the songs didn’t translate like that. It was all about sitting back, taking it in, smoking a joint, or whatever. This approach is more derivative of our live experience and instead of having fourteen-minute songs we get the point across a lot quicker with short, sonic blasts of our sound. I guess this a more accessible record for radio.”
Indeed the songs are shorter, more traditionally pop and less ostentatious simply for the sake of aesthetic grandeur, something which should appeal to people put off by what could previously have been regarded as unnecessary or selfish.
There is also a shift in the direction of the lyrics. In previous Polyphonic Spree outings you would have been hard pushed to find lyrics that are not optimistic, that are not spreading joy and love into the world. On ‘The Fragile Army’ you will, and none more so than on the title track, which includes pessimistic references to “leaving people on the floor” and a band that tells us “it’s time for you to lose your excitement”.
I put it to DeLaughter that he would never have written this five years ago. “I watched Bush’s state of the union keynote speech and it really hit home,” he explains. “As an American, it’s been weird going through what we’ve gone through with him as our President and seeing what a mess he has made for a lot of people. You would have to have had your head in the sand not to have been affected by what’s been going on. As a songwriter it just finally made it into my writing. It was just something that came out and it immediately turned into a battle cry for us, ‘it’s time to lose your excitement’; it’s time for you (Bush) to go. He’s left us in such a horrible state and left a judgemental character over our country overall.”
The best is definitely yet to come –we’re going to be one of those bands who is going to make a great contribution.
But as is his wont, DeLaughter likes to see hope in even the most unlikely of places. “It’s now at a point where I’m noticing the people of this country are coming together, the left and the right in a kind of unison. Everyone is tired of what’s been going on, we’re all speaking the same language and all feeling the same. I guess there’s an urgency to make a change and we’re all wanting the same thing rather than having the left and right bickering. To me that is really exciting because that’s when good things happen: when people start getting involved, instead of relying on some leader to tell them what is going to happen.”
So, the new Polyphonic Spree are a Polyphonic Spree of more focused, ‘radio friendly’ songs, less naïve and more politicised lyrics and, according to DeLaughter, more spontaneous and creative in the recording process. “This record was different, it wasn’t like anything we’ve done in the past,” he assures me. “The songs were written in about two weeks without the rest of the band and we recorded it like a traditional rock record with the drum, bass and basic layers first. What was spontaneous and intense about the project was the fact that the group hadn’t heard the songs till we asked them to record on them. For me it just added an extra element – getting that first reaction, asking what’s your first take on this, what’s the first thing that comes to your mind and let’s go for it and put it down. That’s how we wanted to approach it. We went for it and it turned out great.”
Not that you’re likely to see the Polyphonic Spree at their most intense and on the road in the UK for a while. “It’s so difficult for a group like us to ever tour. We’re more than one band but we only get paid the fees for one band. It’s been real, real hard. We just can’t afford it.” But again, DeLaughter is able to turn this rather constricting position into one of optimism. “That’s something I’ve learned about this group,” he explains. “We’re extremely tenacious and we get over even the worst situations. We’re constantly overcoming adversity in this band and it only makes us stronger.”
They may look different and they may have realised that sometimes the baddies win but The Polyphonic Spree still believe that it will be all right in the end. Tim DeLaughter’s fragile army is growing from strength to strength.
