
Still busy finishing up a spring tour in advance of a new album due in June, symphonic ensemble The Polyphonic Spree has announced dates for a more extensive summer tour backing the disc.
The 22-member group--which this year is trading in its characteristic white robes in favor of black jumpsuits--will tackle 24 summer headlining dates in addition to an Aug. 4 Lollapalooza obligation.
The ensemble, which launches the summer run June 23 in Dallas, is currently finishing a brief spring tour, with a Monday night (5/14) show in Athens, GA, and a May 27 appearance at rural Washington's Sasquatch Festival left on the calendar. The group's full itinerary is listed below.
Known for performing clad in flowing white robes, the Dallas-based act--led by former Tripping Daisy frontman Tim DeLaughter, who is backed by a guitarist, a bassist, two percussionists, keyboardists, woodwind and strings specialists, brass players and a nine-member chorus--will take a cue from the title of its forthcoming album, "The Fragile Army," when suiting up for its latest tour.
According to an item on the ensemble's website, the group will become "more streamlined for the future" in "unified military-style uniforms garnished with universal symbols for peace."
"We're gearing up for the evolution," DeLaughter said in a press release.
Due out in June, "The Fragile Army"--Polyphonic Spree's third studio album, and first since 2004's "Together We're Heavy"--was co-produced by John Congleton (of Dallas band The Paper Chase) and The Speekers (a.k.a. DeLaughter and Polyphonic Spree vocalist Julie Doyle).
"For our last record, we'd been on the road so long that songs had been developed there and were pretty much fully arranged by the time of recording," DeLaughter said in a press release. "But this 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, learning one song at a time and then collaborating on ideas and parts."