"I could spend a thousand years just drifting
through your atmosphere," Kelley Polar sings on "Satellites," his second
album's central track—meaning both that it's in the middle of the song
sequence, and that its polite pulse, plinking keyboards, and mildly catchy
vocal melody stand in for the album as a whole. Like 2005's Love Songs Of
The Hanging Gardens,
I Need You To Hold On While The Sky Is Falling updates frosty '80s
synth-pop knowingly, but without resorting to kitsch. Unfortunately, Polar's
smarts don't necessarily translate to memorable material. He's better with
funkier grooves, as on the opener, "A Feeling Of The All-Thing," or when he
digs into his gear with the synth whorls of "Zeno Of Elea." Like a lot of
electronic-minded folks, he's got more to say with his sound than his words;
the less he worries about "writing real songs," the better.