E-Mail This Article to a Friend Spreedom songs Tim DeLaughter’s Polyphonic score BY JEFF MILLER

Thumbsucker, the debut film from music-video director Mike Mills, is an introspective coming-of-age tale that touches on addiction, infidelity, and adolescence in sometimes disconcerting ways. So when Mills introduced the soundtrack’s composer to play at the film’s premiere, it was no surprise that what followed was a melancholy acoustic number. The surprise was the composer/performer: Tim DeLaughter, leader of the Polyphonic Spree, a robed ensemble whose goal is uplift, not melancholy.

As we talk on the rooftop of the Sunset Strip’s infamous Hyatt Hotel, however, DeLaughter says he happened on all that happiness by accident and suggests that people haven’t appreciated the sad side of the Spree. Speaking about the group’s first album, 2003’s The Beginning Stages of . . . , he even claims, " It was a somber record to me. "

Whatever. It’s not as if all of Thumbsucker wallowed in misery — redemption, after all, is a big part of any coming-of-age story. But the soundtrack — new Spree numbers plus three unreleased Elliott Smith recordings, including a heartwrenching cover of Big Star’s " Thirteen " — will surprise long-time fans. And that’s exactly what DeLaughter wanted. " There’s an element of this group that’s not what people think, and I so desperately needed to get that out there. "

Cut to the group’s New Year’s Eve show in LA a few years ago. Mills was there, and he was depressed. Elliott Smith had died not long before, and the film, already three years in the making, had ground to a halt. But the show — which included Granddaddy joining the Spree for a rendition of the Beatles’ " All You Need Is Love " — inspired him to seek out DeLaughter. " I felt like Tim and the band were saying to me, ‘Why not be happy?’  " he writes in the disc’s liner notes.

Mills called DeLaughter and the two hit it off. DeLaughter saw that Justin Cobb, the film’s protagonist, was having a hard time dealing with his surroundings — and himself. " I told them it needed a human score, more organic, a woodsy vibe. " The filmmakers were willing to try, and they e-mailed DeLaughter a couple of scenes; he scored them at home in Dallas. " They were back in the editing suite watching it, and all of a sudden Mike was like, ‘My film is coming alive.’  "

The score is indeed integral to the film, an almost constant presence. And it was no problem for DeLaughter. He says he’s always visualized images to go along with his music, so writing for the screen was " a cakewalk. It’s what I’ve always done, except this time I had an actual image, where I could see people, see their emotions, and play to that. "

The album ranges from choir-based Spree songs like " What Would You Let Go " to quiet instrumentals; it climaxes with the half-hour-plus guitar-and-piano drone " Acceptance. " The three Elliott Smith songs don’t sound out of place; the simple guitar-and-vocal arrangements are appropriately precious, with Smith’s always emotive vocals sounding weary and strained yet beautiful.

DeLaughter is already moving on to his group’s next album, which he says will focus on electric instruments but without neglecting the Spree’s orchestral side. And his mission — to cheer people up — remains intact. " It does the same thing for us, " he says of the Spree’s shows. " You’re having a rough day, and you play those songs, and it changes it. "