for those of us who are disappointed that musical collective the polyphonic spree didn’t deliver their much anticipated new album the fragile army on the promised date of july 3rd, you can ease off the panic for awhile. due to some ongoing problems with hollywood records (who subsequently dropped the band in what i am sure will end up being the kind of mistake that gets somebody fired), the album release has been put off until february of 2007. fortunately you won’t have to wait that long for your fix, though - a new ep was thankfully released today and boy howdy is it ever good.Â
put out by good records and available only in independent record stores and digitally on itunes, the 5 song ep is called wait, appropriately enough.  it includes 2 new recordings that will more than likely show up on the fragile army, and you can really sense the fresh direction the spree is taking with it. despite their cult status and the popularity they received from being hand-picked to open for david bowie on his american tour in 2004, the spree is tired of being perceived as just another gimmick-y group of robe-wearing, sunshine-loving pollyannas. i have been hearing for awhile now that they are going to rock out on this upcoming album and the two new tracks included on the ep prove it - listen to “mental cabaret” here (hit enter and wait for it to start) and i double dog dare you to keep from grooving.
The remaining three songs on the ep are covers, recorded during the sessions when they were doing the eternal sunshine of the spotless mind soundtrack with the infamous jon brion. the spree has been wanting some radio play (it’s hard to feed 23 people, yo) and they just might get it with these triumphantly melodic covers of nirvana (a spine-tingling version of “lithium”), psychedelic furs (”love my way”) and tim delaughter’s original band tripping daisy (”sonic bloom”), who had a lot to do with making me who i am today. i could tell you a story or 2 about some crazy times at their live shows back in dallas in the mid-nineties but i won’t because i might run for senate someday and those tales would ruin my chances for sure.
anyway, it’s a nice little ep and i’m not just saying that because my best guy friend evan plays the synthesizer, i swear. hey…david bowie likes them and you should too.Â
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13 Comments »
wow…they got dropped on their pointy little cultish heads by Hollywood Records…if there is one thing a record company should beware of….it’s dissing a band of robed gypsies. I sense bad karma for HR.
What are they looking at?
“Look! It’s Tim!”
seriously, how much like charles manson does evan look? that\’s some demented eye-rolling.
(for those of you who don\’t know, evan is the scary-looking organist on the right. good times.)
I’m embarrassed to say that guy used to read Dr. Seuss to my daughter.
If you are friends with the spree you should tell them to lose the robes. I think it’s makes people not take their music seriously. It’s lame. Because their music is really good but they look like kids messing around on stage.
Be careful what you ask for. You may not like what is underneath.
speaking from experience?
I think someone needs to commission a study on Brian aka Birdstuff, formerly of Man…or Astroman? and current Spree-er. He jumped from a band of space cadets to a band of space cadets. WTF.
Wouldn’t it be fun to paint each room in your house the color of one of their robes? I dare the biggest fan to do it and post pictures!
They already have a TV show where they do that. It’s called “Trading Spaces.” ;-P
When does Fragile Army come out, do you know?
June 12th, Lisa! 
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Comment by martinko — September 6, 2006 @ 2:37 pm
I still am not understanding about this band. Why the robes like a church? But true this new music it sounds beter.