I don’t know what happened to the Polyphonic Spree… they were having quite a success a few years ago (their last album was released in 2007), and I remember seeing them live and being stunned by the fervor of the fans, even going to the extreme of dressing like them (they usually performed wearing long Gospel-choir-type robes), and dancing-jumping as if they were entering into their Sunday trance at a Baptist church. The whole thing looked a little bit jokingly cultish, but it was fun to see this large amount of people singing together while playing flute, trumpet, trombone, violin, viola, cello, percussion, piano, guitars, bass, drums, electronic keyboards, and what else? It was symphony-pop-rock and they had an awesome Bowie cover, ‘Five Years’, and even a Beatles’ one ‘Sgt Pepper’, which, I must say, worked really well in a total uplifting way.
But what happened to them? Frontman Tim Delaughter, who had the stage presence of an Ozzy Osbourne who had suddenly turned to the bright side, in a messianic kind of way, recently talked to the Dallas Observer. He said that he had a few projects coming: a solo one, new songs with the Polyphonic Spree, and also a third project with another new band, but he did not want to elaborate on this last one.
Delaughter, who is the owner of ‘Good Records’ a record label store in Dallas, also announced that the label will be moving away from releasing album format, preferring to release music as singles each time.
So the next Polyphonic Spree’s record may well be just a single, but he did not say if they will ever wear again their multicolor gospel robes.