(08.09.08) I don’t keep up with Morgan Geist’s Environ label; I genuinely didn’t think there was much to keep up with to be honest since neither Geist nor the label are exactly prolific (not a bad thing by any stretch of the imagination). But the same stellar quality output still emanates from said imprint and this gem is one of them. This isn’t even Kelley Polar’s first album, I soon discovered, and it’s a great deal more confident and bold than the previous outing Love Songs of the Hanging Gardens.
This particular alchemist spins Environ-style polished techno minimalism (assisted by Geist’s mixing and additional production) into an almost unhealthily nostalgic and startling mix of 1980’s disco and funk sounds, new-age philosophizing and a dash of real strings courtesy of the Kelley Polar Quartet. Wonderfully po-faced lyrics, contagious melodies and highly polished 80s excess mean you can just picture the absurdity of the new-romantic period and laugh knowingly at it all from atop a comfy 21st century high-horse.
Or perhaps not, since this take on disco isn’t really a mocking one. Polar is clearly quite serious on a number of levels (and this album operates on so many it’s hard to keep up) and the lyrical content and track titles all point to that, fusing classic and drugs-related themes together with the overall theme of the interconnectedness of all things. Be under no illusions here, you will either love or hate this record, and album-opener “A Feeling of the All-Thing” is the acid test. If you can get past the vocodered, new-age, time-delayed proselytizing and into the blossoming and unashamedly melodramatic string crescendos that follow, you’ve passed: you’re not taking it all too seriously. Or aren’t you…?
The drama is something you’ll have to quickly get used to, by the way. You see, Polar seems to have realized that he really can sing. Gone is the nervous, behind the hands whisper that seemed to seek permission to be heard on his first album, to be replaced by the new Kelley Polar: breathless, exuberant, passionate, a new-found confidence evident in every breath.
His lyrics are no less attention-grabbing, and the mood-swings come thick and fast too. After the glorious excess of “A Feeling of the All-Thing,” “Zeno of Elea” leads us quietly, then stream-of-consciously into the mind of someone recalling in agonizing detail a dream about the mechanics of his own suicide as he soars off the top of a building, only to change his mind at the end and try to prevent the situation. “Entropy Reigns (in the Celestial City),” a real high-point, features a duet with Claire de Lune that rages against the shallow façade of the 80s, all cocaine and heroin fueled apathetic yuppies sharing each other’s space in mutual loathing at infinitely recurring, mind-numbing parties, all rendered in a sexy, Metro Area style. Elsewhere, Polar is a satellite in space waiting patiently for his first transmission, assuming a breathy, sensual, Prince style vocal that sits at almost disturbing odds with the themes of nuclear war in “Chrysanthemum,” or lamenting the end of the world in “Rosenband.”
The sound design on display here is simply exquisite, striking the perfect balance of new and old. In fact on many occasions it saves Polar’s grandiose performances from slipping into absurdity. “A Dream in Three Parts (on themes by Anesco)” sees his soaring and swooping vocals reach a level of intimacy and passion that make the listener feel almost voyeuristic, but it’s all tempered with such quirky Toytronica beneath it that the whole thing comes across as fun rather than embarrassing. The arrangements are also often very complex, but never cluttered or dense. There is so much packed into the tight space of I Need You To Hold On While The Sky Is Falling that you’ll find something new on each listen for a long, long time, and that’s rare both in pop and electronic music these days.
Fans of Morgan Geist (watch out for his forthcoming Double Night Time long player due is September), Junior Boys or simply those with the right temperament to deal with Polar’s excesses simply need this album. I only wish that I’d discovered it sooner.
I Need You To Hold On While The Sky Is Falling is out now on Environ. [Purchase
