Pitchfork

It's been a long journey since the Polyphonic Spree's last release, but the Dallas collective have finally settled on a battle plan for their third album. It's called The Fragile Army, a nickname the group received from Mike Mills, director of 2005 indie flick Thumbsucker, which the band scored.

"We have entered a new phase in our musical contribution," says frontman Tim DeLaughter in a press release, and indeed, the Spree have undergone quite the makeover for their new record, which hits stores sometime in June via the group's new home, TVT Records. Yes, the Polyphonic Spree are labelmates with the Ying Yang Twins. Finally!

Details and tracklist after the fold.

As previously reported, the Spree have abandoned the trademark Technicolor robes of their days on Disney's Hollywood label, opting for more militaristic black uniforms that DeLaughter says reflect "a political climate that's choking us all." And so much for their Kool-Aid-fueled paeans to the power of sunshine; he describes the "ode-to-Bush" title track as the band's new battle cry.

"This recording was extremely challenging for us," continues DeLaughter, who describes the recording process as a more collaborative effort than 2004's Together We're Heavy. For that record, he says, "songs had been developed [on the road] and were pretty much fully arranged before recording."

"But [The Fragile Army] is a very spontaneous album. We'd been off the road for a while, and all the players collaborated on the spot in the studio," says DeLaughter. "When we listen back it feels like a diary more than anything else. It's painful and beautiful all at once." Let's hope more beautiful than painful.

In the works for more than two years, The Fragile Army (originally slated for release last Independence Day!) was recorded in Cannon Falls, Minnesota and Duncanville, Texas, as well as Steve Albini's Electrical Audio in Chicago. The Paper Chase's John Congleton joined DeLaughter and his wife, Julie Doyle, in producing the new record, which continues the first two albums' tradition of naming songs numerically in sections. Army picks up right where Heavy's title track left off, with... a song by the exact same name.

The album will not include any tracks from last fall's iTunes-only Wait EP.

The Spree will be making four appearances at SXSW, so if you see what looks like a battalion of My Chemical Romance super-fans crossing the street together, it's probably them.

Tracklist:

01 Section 21 (Together We're Heavy)
02 Section 22 (Running Away)
03 Section 23 (Get Up And Go)
04 Section 24 (The Fragile Army)
05 Section 25 (Younger Yesterday)
06 Section 26 (We Crawl)
07 Section 27 (Oh I Feel Fine)
08 Section 28 (Guaranteed Nightlite)
09 Section 29 (Light To Follow)
10 Section 30 (Watch Us Explode/Justify)
11 Section 31 (Overblow Your Nest)
12 Section 32 (The Championship)

SXSW dates:

03-16 Paste & SoundExchange Showcase - Austin Music Hall
03-17 Bootleg BBQ - Mean Eyed Cat
03-17 Hot Freaks! party - The Mohawk Outside
03-17 La Zona Rosa

Non-SXSW dates:

03-21 Boulder, CO - Fox Theatre
03-22 Denver, CO - Fillmore Auditorium *
03-24 Denton, TX - Fry Street #

* with the String Cheese Incident
# with Northern State, Baboon, the Valentines, Villains