Well apparently together they're heavy, which is unsurprising for a band which outnumbers So Solid Crew, Blazin' Squad and the Wu-Tang Clan put together (I haven't actually counted but I'm rather fond of hyperbole). I've been looking forward to their follow up to 'The Beginning Stages Of...' since I fell in love with it last summer and today I welcomed 'Together We're Heavy' into my CD collection. And it makes me smile. All arou-ound.
They look like some sort of fundamentalist religious cult, and their songs do have a sort of hymnal feel to them. But these hymns aren't to any God as such, or even to the sun, as they might first appear. Instead these songs are about Hope, Love and how fantastic life is when you're happy. They're hymns to the human spirit.
All this would usually have me reaching for the 'Hippy Tossers' stamp of disapproval, but somehow the Spree manage to pull it off without being smug or preachy. Their secret is one that they share with The Flaming Lips (who they sound a LOT like on this album) - they get round you by just having great singalong tunes. AND they even make it easier to sing along by pretty much repeating the same line over and over again, which I thought would annoy me but for some reason I find it endearing. There's also a sense of ambition in the music that's really refreshing. There's only a handful of acts in the pop (or indie or whatever) arena that push for that whole orchestral sound and actually pull it off. There's a huge amount of effort gone into the recording of this album, and it's payed off - this certainly doesn't sound like a bunch of indie rock ditties with a few violins tacked on for good measure. Oh, and the drumming's ace. Which I like.
Anyway, that's more than enough rambling on about music for now. I promise I'll post about something else soon. Probably climbing or something.
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