Pitchfork

Photo by Jimmy Edgar

It's a strange one, that new Kelley Polar album; the new agey lyrics drip like melted cheese, the daintily enunciated vocals verge on children's television show host creepy, and the production is... all kinds of amazing. Warmer, lusher, and more camp than 2005's Love Songs of the Hanging Gardens, the latest from the Croatian-born classical musician-turned-disco-romantic is an ambitious tangle of vocals, strings, and synths that conjures up Human League, the Free Design, and Reading Rainbow in equal parts. Where the former is concerned, Polar's even come ready with his own "Don't You Want Me"; rounded out by a springy bassline, chirpy strings, and the voice of Clare de Lune, Polar's addition to the time-honored tradition of boy/girl electro-pop duets is an easy album highlight. It might very well end up being a January highlight for you too; but if that happens, maybe try not to think too much about the fact that your new favorite song is called "Entropy Reigns (In the Celestial City)".

[from I Need You to Hold on While the Sky Is Falling; due 03/03/08 on Environ]