The next stages of the Polyphonic Spree will be released as Together We're Heavy this summer. The new set follows the twenty-four-piece pop ensemble's sunny debut, The Beginning Stages of the Polyphonic Spree, a left-field cult favorite from 2002.

The robe-clad Spree, led by former Tripping Daisy frontman Tim DeLaughter worked with Eric Drew Feldman (Frank Black) and Andrew Paul Baker (who produced and engineered Daisy's last album) on the set, which will be released by Hollywood Records. The album was recorded over seven weeks, as opposed to the two days spent recording the demo-turned-debut Stages.

DeLaughter credits Beginning Stages with drumming up enough interest in the band to bankroll the bigger-sounding Heavy. "While we were making [Stages], we had no idea it was gonna become what it has become," DeLaughter told Rolling Stone. "This one we went in with a proper budget and a total sonic confidence that we had never really experienced in the studio. It's a proper recording; I don't know, we deserve it and I'm glad we were able to do it."

The group showcased some of the new material while on tour last year, and the first single, "Two Thousand Places" is already generating buzz. As with Beginning Stages, the album's songs will run together and DeLaughter promises "a story that's cohesive through the whole record."

"Sonically it's the best thing I've ever been a part of," he added. "It sounds like an opera to me. It's pretty much hair-raising, and it's a really wonderful representation of the Polyphonic Spree."

ANDREW DANSBY
(January 27, 2004)