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The melodies are far more varied than on previous outings, and the sense of dynamics and balance of tension in these songs -- and the arrangements that accompany them -- are the most sophisticated this group has ever pulled off.
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Together the band is starting to sound seriously heavy.
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BillboardThe Spree... is generally a bit more streamlined in its approach. [23 Jun 2007]
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The new songs are much darker.
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DeLaughter needs to be more personal; already having a dozen people yelling at you distances the ideas they express, but emptying those ideas of any meaning isn’t the answer.
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And there's a pleasing strand of experimentation running through The Fragile Army that, even though it could have been developed slightly further, suggests that the Spree are more than a one-trick, um, choir.
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Entertainment WeeklyThere's now an almost garish cast to the proceedings. [22 Jun 2007, p.71]
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The baroque lyrics on "Light to Follow" prove to be one of the album's defiantly interesting moments, but these are too scattered to offer much new to the casual listener.
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These relatively simple power-pop songs aren't always big or memorable enough to support their grand conceits.
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Although the sound of 30 people making music is always going to have an uplifting edge to it, the songs here are less self-consciously happy-clappy than before.
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MojoFlute and horn fight for breath alongside swampy vocals, and a heavy-handed rock bombast doesn't hide a dearth of hooks or memorable pop melody. [Sep 2007, p.110]
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There's plenty of interest here, then--but is anyone still listening?
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The novelty of it all has quickly worn thin.
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The Fragile Army is an all-out orchestral and choral assault for optimism in a turbulent era, but only infrequently are the Spree's songs as memorable as their numbers.
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Given the strength of the music and the shock of the Spree’s new choice of uniform, it is too bad that there isn’t something a little bit more biting, a little bit more revelatory in the lyrics beneath that music, the soul behind the uniforms.
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The Fragile Army is the Polyphonic Spree's most consistent album, and it thunders with an assurance that was missing from "Together We're Heavy."
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Q MagazineDespite this being their widest-ranging album, their lack of of a truly great song is ultimately frustrating. [Sep 2007, p.99]
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SpinThe Fragile Army trades the cluttered arrangements... of their first two albums for tightly focused orchestral pop with big Technicolor hooks. [Jul 2007, p.102]
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The Spree remain a vital, relevant artist only for Volkswagen advertising execs and anyone who takes the last five minutes of “Scrubs” episodes too seriously.
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Such hugeness can be either exhilarating or tiresome, depending on the listener's capacity for joyful crescendos and enthusiastic shouting. But the album's most intriguing moments come when the church-choir antics are scaled back in favor of some introspection.
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Under The RadarSharpened writing invests these songs with plenty of hooks, yet manageable lengths insure they never overstay their welcome, always leaving you wanting more. [Summer 2007, p.84]
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The Fragile Army actually has substance—thematically, musically, and lyrically.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 25 out of 29
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Mixed: 2 out of 29
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Negative: 2 out of 29
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jyotirmayadasDec 14, 2007
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AmurabiM.Nov 11, 2007
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OmarC.Aug 27, 2007