Exploring dark themes and new sounds, the band dives into their most daring EP yet.
Philadelphia’s The Polychromatics are no strangers to sonic exploration. Over eight years, they’ve carved out a niche where psychedelic rock collides with garage grit and krautrock grooves.
Their latest EP, In Caeru Leo, plunges into themes of death, desire, and degeneracy, wrapped in a darker, synth-laden sound.
With new members on board, the band is pushing boundaries, blending hypnotic riffs with studio wizardry and unexpected twists.
From sweaty Philly basement shows to crafting cautionary tales of fast lives and fractured relationships, The Polychromatics draw inspiration from legends like Pink Floyd and Black Sabbath, while nodding to modern acts like Viagra Boys and King Gizz.
We caught up with the band to talk about their evolution, Philly’s DIY spirit, and the joy of making music that’s as unpredictable as it is unforgettable. You can check out their brand new release here!
HAPPY: What are you up to today?
THE POLYCHROMATICS: Besides perfecting our mind control death ray – we are currently hard at work concocting a new brew of music to deliver! We have had some recent changes to our line up and are happy to welcome Robin and Eric in on synth and drums respectively.
With new members always comes new perspectives so we have had great fun experimenting with them and working out some excellent songs John has brought us. We’ve been working out how to incorporate some new wave and noise elements into our brand of psychedelic rock.
HAPPY: Tell us a little about where you’re from, what do you love about it?
THE POLYCHROMATICS: We love the music of course! We are very fortunate to live in a city that is not only a stop on most tours but is also home to a thriving local scene. There is a place carved out, even if it’s a basement, to dig into just about every niche of music you can think of, so there has been ample opportunity to explore and grow as musicians right here at home.
One of the other wonderful things about Philly is it really strikes a perfect balance between metropolitan splendour and a strong sense of community. Quiet neighbourhoods and some of the most exotic extravagance feel equally at home here.
HAPPY: The EP explores themes of “death, desire, and degeneracy” – could you elaborate on how these themes manifested in your songwriting process, particularly for tracks like ‘Chase’ and ‘Highway’?
THE POLYCHROMATICS: In the songwriting process for chase in particular, the structure revolved around a hypnotic chord progression that falls back into itself. We thought this was a good analogue for the nature of situationships and how they can spiral into something unsavoury for both parties.
The theme of desire manifested itself through a cautionary tale of sorts. For highway, it’s something similar, and about how a fast life on the move may be exhilarating, but held up for too long you miss out on some things. For example, how to be a good partner to someone.
That story of degeneracy ends with our character admitting they feel it’s too late for them to have that life. It really manifested through the high energy riffage and the double slow down on the bridge brings that feeling of running out of steam.
HAPPY: After eight years as a band, how has your approach to psychedelic music evolved, and what new elements did you want to incorporate with this EP?
THE POLYCHROMATICS: It’s been a wild and wacky eight years, that’s for sure.
At the beginning of that eight years we were fresh faced babes, and I think we were all just excited to experiment and see what kind of far out sounds we could create together. Since that time our approach evolved with us, and we’ve managed to focus that experimentation onto styles, emotions, or stories that we were drawn to.
Our eclectic tastes and experiences as a group have given us a lot to draw from and try and bring into the world of psychedelic music. With the latest EP, we wanted to introduce a heavier and gritty sound, coupled with a foray into synth textures and computer trickery to bring a very beloved and classic sound to new lands.
HAPPY: Philadelphia has a rich musical heritage. How has being based there shaped your sound over the years, and do you feel connected to any particular Philly music scenes or traditions?
THE POLYCHROMATICS: The basement show/DIY scene in Philadelphia is a beautiful thing, and it’s been a vibrant part of the city for at least 50 some years. Being a part of that has not just been a gift but definitely helped shape us as a band.
I think it’s given influence to not just how we perform our music but when writing and creating I feel the image of performing it in a humid Philly basement to sweaty and rowdy young rabble passes through all our minds.
It’s also influenced us a lot to work within the scene, and we have had the help of a great many companions to record and release our music within the DIY space.
HAPPY: The title ‘In Caeru Leo’ has a classical feel to it – what’s the significance behind this name, and how does it connect to the overall concept of the EP?
THE POLYCHROMATICS: In Caeru Leo is latin, so the classical feel is warranted. It roughly translates to “into the deep blue” or “in blue time”. What this really represents for us is a time of death or mourning, as well as a changing of season towards winter.
It was a fitting name for the EP, as we moved towards a darker sound and featured songs about death and the cold shadows that a lot of good times can cast. Noah of the band Nysa (Formerly SHID) came up with the name during their tenure as our drummer, and also wrote the riff for Chase.
HAPPY: With your music drawing from psychedelia, garage rock, and krautrock, which artists or albums would you cite as your most significant influences for this particular project?
THE POLYCHROMATICS: A little bit of Pink Floyd slips in to everything we do, but for this we looked more towards the styles of Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath to draw that classic heavy sound from. For the more modern influences, acts like Viagra Boys and Osees gave us some inspiration to get silly with the synths and implement some studio magic effects.
Other groups like Australia’s own famed King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard have delved into that space before as well, and we definitely took notes from them.
HAPPY: You mentioned this EP contains some “surprises along the way” – without giving too much away, what experimental elements or unexpected moments are you most excited for listeners to discover?
THE POLYCHROMATICS: Well the new approach to our synths we’ve mentioned is surely one, but some vocal layering and extra percussion and woodwind instruments arrive at interesting times as well. The general structures of the songs take a few left turns, as we break into something tonally different than the rest of the track before.
There’s some really fun stuff waiting at the end of chase and In Lucem for listeners that we’re excited for them to hear.
HAPPY: Looking back at your eight-year journey as The Polychromatics, what do you consider your biggest evolution as musicians, and where do you see yourselves heading after this release?
THE POLYCHROMATICS: Interestingly, we’ve never really made a quantum leap of sorts. Our progress has always been a very gradual thing. I will say, that post covid everyone was feverish to get back out there and have fun again so we did get quite busy at that time, which I think a lot of other acts can probably relate to.
Considering that our changes have been gradual, I think over that time what’s changed the most is our approach to completing and releasing music. We learn something new every time we go to create a finished product and I think that snowballing knowledge and experience can be seen through each new project we’ve released.
HAPPY: And finally, what makes you Happy?
THE POLYCHROMATICS: Loud music, dancing, sunshine, perfectly rolled joints, friends, family, cute babies, and animals are just a few things that come to mind.
Our music, especially this latest offering, is not usually the most cheerful but I’m proud to say we do enjoy ourselves and get a lot of love out of life on this planet. One thing I know for sure is that getting to make and perform music together brings us a lot of happiness as well :).
