The Polyphonic Spree

When The Polyphonic Spree were unceremoniously dumped by Warner backed label, 679 some months back, some sneery-eyed objectors rejoiced at the apparent death of their cherry blossom choral pop. But with film soundtracks and a new record completed, Tim DeLaughter’s troupe of robed minstrels has regrouped for a second assault.

Appropriately enough, it’s Disney Music who publishes their recordings, and with DeLaughter’s rubber smile skipping round the stage, this is Fantasia meets Be Here Now fronted by a ‘good’ Sideshow Bob. Those KKK konnotations have gone with the white robes thankfully replaced by, wait for it, coloured ones. (One can only imagine the Reservoir Dogs style scene that would have accompanied the colour distribution.) The manic, Sgt Pepper’s robbing melodies remain, however.

Amid the familiarity of ‘Hanging Around’ and a stomping encore ‘Soldier Girl’ which gets the whole place dancing away following an extraordinary standing ovation, are a clutch of new songs from new LP, Together We’re Heavy. ’When The Fool Becomes A King’ is the kind of epic, fairytale stuff that Tim Rice would be proud of, while ‘Diamonds’ starts off as a creeping, minor chord piece, chilling its way to their trademark sunburst choruses.

Still, The Spree are at their best when they dispel with verses and head straight for the chorus. ‘It’s The Sun’ carves even the hardest cynic into a jumping loon. It’s a West End musical without the duff story. The tunes are bigger and brighter than ever before and like every other member of The Spree, Tim knows how to grin when he’s winning.