Polyphonic Spree on mission to teach the world to sing

They do things bigger in Texas - hats, cattle, oil wells and symphonic, psychedelic pop bands.

Dallas' sprawling twenty-three member Polyphonic Spree play Auckland's Big Day Out on January 21. Meanwhile Jennifer Jobe, of the band's nine-member choir, recently said the band was in the middle of "a little mini tour".

"Portland last night, Seattle today and Norway tomorrow - there's no stopping us."

The band, famed for its beatific live performances, was playing as part of 2004's Nobel Peace Prize award celebrations.

"We're very excited to be playing there, it's a huge honour."

The maxims of peace, love and harmony the band helped celebrate in Oslo are an integral part of their own uplifting musical message which laces pop with the dizzy, self-induced ecstasy of a hard-rockin' happy-clappy church meeting.

The band's line-up includes two keyboardists, a percussionist, bassist, guitarist, flautist, trumpeter, trombonist, violist, a French horn player, a theremin player, and an electronic effects wizard.

"The music is unlike any other and the live experience is a spectacle," Jobe says.

The Polyphonic Spree was begun by musical director and lead singer Tim DeLaughter 4-1/2 years ago and released its first album, The Beginning Stages of the Polyphonic Spree, shortly after. In October 2004 the group released their second album, Together We're Heavy.

While the group have been compared with the likes of The Beach Boys and The Flaming Lips, Together We're Heavy features less complicated vocal arrangements than the former and is musically less adventurous than the latter's whacked out electronic psychedelia.

But Jobe says with a group the size of The Polyphonic Spree, less is often more.

"We did experiment and do a lot of layering and a lot of harmonies but in the live setting it doesn't transcend. It's not that it can't be done, it's just that we're competing with so much sound.

"We've found the best technique to be effective in that form is to just strip down in melody as much as possible.

"Tim's vision from the beginning was to sound childlike, so that's what we're trying to achieve live."

The group are also celebrated for their flowing onstage robes, which tend to place the band as sixties love-in revivalists. But Jobe says the robes are not a gimmick, quite the opposite in fact.

"It's more of a necessity so as not to rob the music. Tim's always said that if we were up there in our normal clothes it would take away from what's really going on. So it kind of strips us down to one level so all you really can focus on is the music".

But out on the road with 23 robed neo-hippies, that's a lot of laundry, right?

"They go stinky quite a bit," Jobe concedes.

"We tend to go like three or four shows and then our manager will go wash them for us."

Luckily the robes are made of natural fibres and can soak up a little funk before getting too bad. "Can you imagine polyester?"

The band's robes, their sheer size and their mass euphoria-inducing qualities have led to some speculation they may indeed be some kind of sinister cult.

But Jobe maintains the band is not a nomadic melodic Manson family.

"I don't really feel like we're a cult. We're just a bunch of like-minded people who feel that the world deserves this kind of music."

But Jobe is proud of the band's ability to inspire a beatific state in audiences.

"You see a lot more raw emotion in people's faces. You can see it when it clicks in their heart."

And it's definitely clicked with Jobe. She was studying music in college and not really knowing where she was going to go with it, before she "took a detour and joined The Polyphonic Spree."

"I feel very lucky to be a part of this, it's like a big extended family".

Such a big family that road tours require more than a dozen full-sized vans. Jobe says being part of such a large group presents its own special problems.

"Being away from home a lot, it's stressful. I think people realise pretty soon whether or not they're cut out for it.

"People find out it's not for them and best of wishes and they leave and we move on."

She says something the band have learned from touring is that "so much rides on each show".

"You want every audience member to be able to take something away with them and then tell more people because that's how this band works - by word of mouth."

Jobe says the band's last tour of Britain was a particular highlight for her. "In some of the smaller clubs you can hear their (the audience's) voices as well as you can hear your own.

"The shows just kept on getting better as far as audience participation went, and it took it to a whole new height."

While not a exactly on a mission from God, Jobe says she feels the band is prosetlyizing for something.

"I really do feel sorry for some kids who are growing up and aren't able to have access to really genuinely good music and that's definitely what we're bringing.

"I just think that it's time that good music takes over gimmicks and star persona.

"The world needs good music."

* The Polyphonic Spree play the Big Day Out, Auckland January 21.

- NZPA