"If Church was like this every Sunday, we would be the most religious nation on the planet."
The Standard pretty much loved The Polyphonic Spree at the Union Chapel; the Guardian likewise scored it 4-out-of-5 stars. But oh - here starteth ye backlash? - how The Observer hated it, hated it I tell you! "Novelty act..blah blah blah..Oasis B-sides..blah blah blah..emperor's new clothes..blah blah blah." Seated bang centre, three pews from the front, reallyrather & co. had a high old time. No idea what going on behind, but from our vantage point it felt at times like we were all The Polyphonic Spree. Yes, the venue's (vaunted) acoustics didn't do this particular act any favours, at least vocally. Yes, a certain rather simplisitic formula appears to be at work in the composition of many of the Spree's best numbers ('we've got a big chorus and we're gonna use it'). And yes, they're relentlessly enthusiastic, almost improbably so. But for now at least this is one instinctively cynical blog happy to toss aside it's backpack of sceptisism and say "Who sodding well cares, let's choir!" Tho' Tim is obviously Mr Spree, the whole thing still has a pleasingly egalitarian feel with members able to 'spontane' in whatever way takes them. Sure, this can become a bit cacophanous and it's doesn't take much imagination to see how some stricter arrangements might leaven the exhausting bombast. But for the moment riotous assembly will do just fine, "mass grinning off the rictus scale" notwithstanding. And surely the latter can be excused when you think what's happened to this part-time outfit over here, selling out 1000-seater venues from more or less a standing start over the course of a few months (and still no album release 'til late Sept). The snowball rolls on - next stop Shepherd's Bush Empire...

'[Each song] is about the light and the day and the sun, and how we should all celebrate the same endlessly,' Sean O'Hagan - for it was he - Observed. You want earthbound, Sean? How about this: "Last night I recorded a song called 'Footsteps'. It's about a British Junior Minister of State," Colin MacIntyre aka Mull Historical Society tells InMusicWeTrust this month. "He is crumbling under the strain of low profile, long hours, and lower ranking office mediocrity." We're excited already, Colin...

"An alluring blend of vintage pop, rustic folk and down-home lyricism," says the SanFran Examiner of Shiny things, new from Californian band Jackpot. ''These simple rockers shuffle along like a country-fried Matthew Sweet...a really great album that deserves attention,' reckons Allmusic. "The recording is better because there's more people and money behind it," the band said in an interview last week. "It was the first time we'd ever recorded in a real studio. I don't think [the new record] is really that poppy or slick." But it is quite though, isn't it guys. Soundclips suggest they've smoothed away some of the weary twanginess of last year's European release, Weightless. Psycho ballerina sounds a bit like Wheat, say, setting out - for a bet or something - to write a sure-fire airplay winner...

...and in the continued absence of anything from that particular quarter, it's probably worth a go. "We haven't been hounds and whores to self-promotion," said Scott Wheat understatedly in a recent Boston radio interview. Somewhat amazingly for an act with microscopic US sales, no albums since '99 and hardly any gigs in 18 months, the band say they've been able to be full-time for the past few years. Nice work, etc etc...