Calling The Polyphonic Spree a Flaming Lips knockoff would be lazy and unfair to the Spree's aesthetic, but the similarities are so blatant. Not using The Lips as a point of reference seems just as criminal. So what roads to both these bands walk?
To begin, Spree vocalist Tim DeLaughter sings in a manner much like Wayne
Coyne. It's the voice of an older man sounding kind of screechy while attempting to hit high notes. DeLaughter's pitch varies very little on The Fragile Army, irritating the ears a little unless you happen to enjoy this style of singing.
Both bands also seem to have the same outlook in life, that one should simply aim to enjoy themselves while trying to spread love and happiness. While The Flaming Lips come off as radical hippy offshoots, The Polyphonic Spree's execution feels like a Baptist church sermon, the album itself being the hymns sung by the choir. They even have a ten person, predominantly female, choir group who often don robes that are similar to a church fashion.
The live show is also crucial to the image of these bands. The Polyphonic Spree shower the crowd in confetti while orchestrating a seizure inducing light show, a mere fraction of The Flaming Lips experience.
All the aforementioned comparisons probably have a lot of you thinking, "Why bother? I already own the last three Lips albums." The Fragile Army still has a lot of perks to it though. The sheer number of people in the group is impressive.
Sure Slipknot boasts a hefty nine but The Polyphonic Spree has twenty-three members! With the exception of the ten-member choir, all the other members play different instruments making them a true symphony. The album, too, has a very symphonic structure, where each song plays like a movement in a larger work. Think what Green Day was trying to do but with actual cohesion. What makes this work is the instrumentation. The horn and wind sections make the songs flourish and wane, dictating the mood of the whole song while serving as nice transitions between drastically different compositions.
The lyrics leave you with wonder the first time around, but after a few listens they become annoying, like in high school when you had a class with a super religious kids who wanted to preach every chance they got. Sure, it's a good message but you feel alienated because the ideas are pushed so hard.
I would like to catch this band live to see how this works in that kind of setting. I'm sure I'd leave the show feeling blissful and elated but this isn't the kind of group I can listen to in even moderate rotation without getting hostile at their cheeriness.
