Polaroid and the Mixolydian mode

Inside our best-known song

By Stoke Club · September 28, 2026

Polaroid is the song most people know Stoke Club for. It came out June 1, 2026. It's 125 BPM, in A, and it's basically a handful of major chords sliding into each other instead of resolving.

The verse

The verse goes A, F#m, B, then a quick run down: E, D, C#, B. Four times through.

That little run is where the Mixolydian thing happens. E drops a whole step to D, one major chord straight to another, and that's the move. It's the flat seventh chord, and it keeps the progression from snapping back into place. After that it just keeps stepping down to C# and B.

The B chord is doing something too. In A you'd normally expect B minor there. We play it major, and it lifts the line right before the run down.

The chorus

The chorus is A, C#, B, E, four times. Same idea as the verse, major chords a step apart leaning on each other. The C# to B step is the same one from the bottom of the verse run, so the chorus sounds like it grew out of the verse instead of showing up from somewhere else.

The solo

The solo sits on the verse chords again. So you get that E to D one more time right at the end, and the song finishes as open as it started.

If you want to play along, the full chart is in Polaroid chords, and there's a bit about the silent prechorus in The silence in Polaroid. Or just put Polaroid on. It's on Apple Music too.