I liked the first Polyphonic Spree album, but more for the possibilities it suggested than its inherent merits. I love baroque sunshine-with-sadness pop like Pet Sounds or The Soft Bulletin. I have a bootleg of Smile. So when I hear twenty-odd Texans are running around in choral robes singing happy anthems, I get excited. Since the first album was essentially a demo that made good, Together We're Heavy is the first chance we have to see what the Spree can do with a real studio and a real record contract. Promisingly, their sound is robust, thoughtful and not as busy as last time, and the songs aren't as repetitive, which shows that they're at least thinking about their weaknesses. Unfortunately, the songwriting's ambition exceeds its accomplishment. If repetition could make their first album wearing, it also could let the lyrics' uncynical joy rise above the simplistic writing. The hooks in these songs are strong, but with six of the ten tracks running over five minutes long and frequently with gradiose sectional changes, it's hard to get absorbed. Brian Wilson had similar limitations, but "Good Vibrations," candidate for greatest song of the pop era the PS are ripping off left and right, barely exceeds two minutes in length. Compare to the ten-minute "When The Fool Becomes A King," which features operatic intensity exceeded only by embarrassing self-reference that becomses self-parody. (How creatively bankrupt do you have to be to reuse the chorus from your UK-hit debut single in a ten-minute epic?) Don't get me wrong: if they don't fall apart under the burden of their big band payroll, the Polyphonic Spree have a great album coming down the pipe sooner or later. This one is not it.