Yes, It's True

Chronique

While artists have been making albums for their fans for years, the recent advent of crowdfunding now finds artists in a position to make an album because of their fans, a move that seems only natural for cult-like psychedelic symphonic rock collective the Polyphonic Spree, who reached out to their fans to help fund their fourth album, Yes, It's True. While the album shows plenty of the band's trademark ebullience, it's tempered with a feeling of heaviness that feels different from their other work. A lot of this feeling comes by way of the album's percussion work, which often has a propulsive, almost marching quality to it. Although this doesn't diminish the good vibes the Polyphonic Spree are putting out, it casts them in a more direct, no-nonsense light, as if they're on a mission to bring positivity to the world rather than just allowing it to passively shine out of them. Because of this, Yes, It's True is a surprisingly tight album, and even as songs like "Raise Your Head" return to the sort of rhapsodic heights Tim DeLaughter and his merry choir work at, it still feels incredibly focused. Though this makes for a different kind of listening experience than fans might be used to, it's one that's ultimately pretty satisfying, feeling like it's not just manifesting the will and desire of the Polyphonic Spree's fans, but also reflecting the mission of brightness and hope that the band has been on for over a decade now.

© Gregory Heaney /TiVo