The Polyphonic Spree

With rafter-reaching pop songs, a full choir, and matching robes—replaced by more ominous military-style fatigues for 2007’s The Fragile Army—The Polyphonic Spree has inspired love and fear, and not much in between. Those in the former camp have been swept away by the group’s “reach for the sun” attitude and enormous hooks, while detractors shake their heads and compare mastermind Tim DeLaughter to an irritating quasi-cult leader. The band has slowed down in the six years since Fragile Army, but an interactive music app released in 2011, as well as this current You + Me tour, suggests The Polyphonic Spree still has energy to burn.

Updated 05/01/2012