Category:
Rock / Pop

Try if you like:
Ben Folds, Grandaddy, Of Montreal, The Flaming Lips, Tripping Daisy

According to the sheet I received with Polyphonic Spree's latest album, The Fragile Army I'm to prepare for an "exuberant and passionate explosion that finds the legendary 20 piece symphonic rock group joyfully raging against the dying of the light with newfound zeal". Read it once more. How am I supposed to follow that up with a review?

Here it goes: Maybe I'm just bored of Polyphonic Spree. Maybe I can only stand the choral schtick for so long. No wait, I'm on my fifth listen and DeLaughter and crew are starting to creep into my head. Yup, there it is. The fifth magical listen. I've been a Tim DeLaughter fan since his heyday with the equally quirky Tripping Daisy. The Fragile Army is Polyphonic Spree's third full-length album and they have had quite the ride. The whole choir thing started out to be a bit of a prop but after they have accomplished three very good albums one starts to wonder if Tim is totally on to something with this idea. 

The substance on The Fragile Army may actually only come out after repeated listens but be advised that it is there, provided you have patience. I almost wrote quite a contrary review to this positive one but gave it one more shot. I knew it was there but I had to dig to find it. The album keeps up with the "Section" theme and begins with "Section 21 [Together We're Heavy]" (continuation from the previous same name album)  which is nothing more than a 30 second intro. 22, "Running Away" is the first song and easily the catchiest of the 11 full songs. "Get Up And Go" is more direct and almost seems like a one man show. The title track is a little darker but fits nicely, it almost has a showtune quality come about 1:30 into the song. Tim seems more creative on this album as well. The arrangements are getting to be even larger, but justifiably so with all the members.

So if you have some patience you might find solace in The Fragile Army. It's a big album and a logical progression from Together We're Heavy.