The Polyphonic Spree’s weird inspiration & new trippy, musical delight
By Joe Barlow
To have lived in the early 2000s and not had some knowledge of The Polyphonic Spree is nearly impossible. Their music went beyond radio waves and seamlessly entered film and television with a big, ambitious, swirling sound. It was fresh and new, yet comforting and familiar.
If you’ve followed their career, it should be no surprise that their newest project combines musical, visual, and groundbreaking technological elements. It is a fully immersive dome theater film called Resolution: A Cinephonic Rhapsody For The Soul. I was able to speak to Tim DeLaughter, founder/frontman of The Polyphonic Spree at SXSW. The packed screenings hinted that the film would go on to win SXSW’s XR Experience Spotlight Audience Award. The conversation has been edited for clarity and length.
Joe:
Tim, thank you for talking to me today.
Tim:
My pleasure.
Joe:
So where did this whole idea come from?
Tim:
So Resolution was born out of a desire for people to listen to an album. The album was Salvage Enterprise by The Polyphonic Spree. It's our latest album. People don't listen to albums anymore. They don't listen to songs. They get to the bridge, chorus, and then switch to a new song. So I came up with this record, and I really wanted people to hear this as a whole. I did pop-up listening experiences because I wanted them to hear it from start to finish. I came back and said, Scott [Berman, the director], we've gotta create something that gives people a chance to unplug, tune in, visually be immersed with the sight and sound, and take in a full album.
Joe:
I think Scott said this to me yesterday that you guys are childhood friends. And maybe the seeds are rooted in your childhood. Is that right?
Tim:
Yeah. We've been friends since seventh grade. Scott and I have been kind of creative partners from my first band, Tripping Daisy, I did in the nineties. He did all the visuals for it. It was oil and water, 16 millimeter projectors, slide projectors, and we would do these massive light shows from the very first show on. It was very much part of who we were. Polyphonic Spree came on. We had these white robes. That was to project the images on. So we did that for a while. Then it turned out that the band was more of a show than what you could project on it. And then he started doing shows with an LED screen behind us. But the visual side in music's kind of always been in our DNA. We've always wanted to get in planetariums, and so now we are. We're in planetariums that are throughout the country and dome theaters and the like.
Joe:
Well, you know what's so interesting about your music is I feel like when I hear it, it evokes visuals even without seeing visuals. When you're creating music, are you trying to create visuals?
Tim:
Interesting. Yeah. Well, I write the lyrics and the melody at the same time. I improvise. That's kinda how I write. So it's all visualizing. So, I'm seeing what I'm seeing as I'm writing it in the moment. So, yeah, I can see how it's very visual. That's kinda how I see it.
Joe:
I got to see a preview of Resolution. It's awesome.
Tim:
Thank you.
Joe:
I made connections to Fantasia and Yellow Submarine. Were these inspirations for you?
Tim:
Scott was the one that wrote and directed this film. He came up with the concept of an arc that was his experience from the record. I kinda stepped away and he kind of came up with the concept of how it's gonna look.
Then he interacted with these different animators from all over the world. It's like team of 30 different people doing 2D, 3D, 4D animation. And he would tell them this is the storyline and allow them a little bit of freedom to do what they wanted to do. So you're kind of getting a collaboration of the artist and Scott's vision on what his interpretation of the album is.
Joe:
When I think of music and visuals, another influence for me personally is, like, Looney Tunes. Do you have unconventional influences, whether it's a visual or a musical that people might be surprised to hear?
Tim:
Oh, gosh. H.R. Pufnstuf.
Joe:
Is that the freaky…
Tim:
Yeah. The puppet looking thing.
Tim:
I was a huge Sid and Marty Krofft fan as a kid. Like, massive. They had the shows Far Out Space Nuts, Land of the Lost, H.R. Pufnstuf, Lidsville, The Bugaloos, all that kind of crazy out there stuff. It turned out to be like stoner television for kids, you know, at that time. But it was just really out there and to me, like, fantastical, like, the talking flute and all this kinda crazy stuff that very much, infiltrated into my creative psyche.
Joe:
So I wanna talk Light and Day, I feel like is maybe your seminal song and then became very visually associated with because it was in movies, especially like Eternal Sunshine. Were you surprised to hear they wanna use this?
Tim:
You know, what's interesting about that particular song is I almost didn't put it on the record.
That was from our first album, Beginning Stages of, which, that album and that version you're talking about was a demo. We were using that to try to get gigs because people couldn't wrap their head around. There was 28 people in a band, and so I'd say, we need to record something to show them that this is actually a musical and it makes sense. And, the band kinda started to take off and that record became our first record. But anyway, when I'm putting it together, I go, the tempo of this song is too fast for this record, it seemed to me. And, it almost didn't make it on there. And at the time, my wife, Julie, was like, it's gotta be on there or it's over. And so she's the one that forced it to be on there. And that that particular song you're talking about has been everywhere. Movies and television and film.
Joe:
I hope you’ve thanked her every day,
Tim:
Yeah it's been amazing.
Joe:
(Pauses) Um. I don't wanna look at my notes.
Tim:
This has been pretty good.
Joe:
You think?
Tim:
I'm impressed.
Joe:
Should I send this to an agent or something?
Tim:
Yeah. For sure.
Joe:
Tim, what a joy to talk to you.
Tim:
Likewise, Joe.
If you’re in Fort Worth or Denton, Texas you can get tickets and more information HERE. Tim also mentioned that maybe a big dome in Nevada would be a great place to see it eventually too…