The Polyphonic Spree - Afflatus (2021)

It’s been a long while since we’ve heard an album from the Polyphonic Spree, the robed and vaguely cultlike Texan indie rock ensemble whose overwhelming festival performances were inescapable in the ’00s. Psychphonic, the band’s last album, came out seven years ago. Today, though the Polyphonic Spree have announced two new albums: One that’ll arrive Friday, and another that’ll come out this fall.

Last year, the Polyphonic Spree released We Hope It Finds You Well, an EP of covers that they posted on their Bandcamp page. The band has since removed that EP. On Friday, though, the Spree will release the new covers album Afflatus, which features all the songs from that EP and a few more. According to a press release, the band recorded the entire album in a single evening, just before the pandemic hit last year. The album will features songs from the Rolling Stones, the Bee Gees, Daniel Johnston, ABBA, Rush, the Monkees, Barry Manilow, and others. Fortuitously enough, the opening track is a version of a song from INXS, the band covered in our Number Ones column today.

The Polyphonic Spree are leading off Afflatus with their version of “Don’t Change,” a big, driving new wave song from the 1982 INXS album Shabooh Shoobah. Their version, first performed live in Australia in 2010, is exactly as grand and sunny as you’d expect. In a press release, Spree leader Tim DeLaughter says, “We wanted to pay homage to one of their country’s great artists, but it’s also just an awesome song. I love its forward moving, almost gliding feel.” Below, check out the Polyphonic Spree version of “Don’t Change,” the INXS original, and the tracklist for Afflatus.