Following the merciless deaths of “Horology,” our protagonist searches for a way to see and remembers about a color beyond human eyesight. They meet a (perhaps familiar) glassy-eyed man who tells them about the secret to see this color, tetrachromacy. The average human eye has three cone types in their retina, each one allowing someone to see different shades of color. Some animals such as sharks, zebra finches and caribou, however, have four different cones which gives them the ability to see new colors that humans typically cannot experience, allowing them to spot things in their environments including ultraviolet light. The protagonist is fascinated by this and yearns to see “the fourth colour.” “Tetrachromacy” sets up a central idea on the album and is the beginning of the album’s final suite, fittingly titled the “Tetrachromacy” Suite. Following the song’s release it would be occasionally referenced such as in “All Is Known” and “Dragon.”
“Tetrachromacy” was first made known as part of a Soundcloud leak on April 3rd, 2017. In the lineup was a track named “Tetrachromacy I” (referring to its placement within the suite based on Jason Galea’s unused art for Polygondwanaland). While demos for the other Polygondwanaland tracks like “Polygondwanaland” and “Crumbling Castle” were saved, “Tetrachromacy” was one of three songs not documented. The studio version of the track was recorded by Casey Hartnett at Flightless HQ. The song saw an official release months later on November 17th as part of Polygondwanaland.
While the song had been a part of one of the band’s 2017 highlights, it did not see a live performance for a very long time. According to a response from the band before the premiere of the music video for “Dreams” the song was meant to be played in 2020 but was put to the side due to the shows being canceled. This is backed up by Joey’s “Sea of Trees” playlist which features the song.
It wasn’t until 2022-05-26 at the Higher Ground Ballroom in South Burlington that “Tetrachromacy” would be played. Like other songs from the album it had shed its acoustic skin and was played all electric. It would be played one more time on 2022-10-14 at The Palace Theatre in St. Paul. The band did intend to play it one other time on 2022-11-02 but this never happened. Following radio silence throughout 2023, “Tetrachromacy” reappeared once in 2024 during the band’s early Red Rocks show on 2024-09-09. Unlike the 2022 performances, this rendition was semi-acoustic similar to the Polywandgonaland version.
