Love Songs of The Hanging Gardens (2005) is the album that made house music 100% ok for me. I can handle anything now! It was kind of a trial by fire: K.P. leans to the italo side, with really expressive vocal harmonies that sound straight out of '80s guitar jazz, and strings that are specifically styled after classic disco. Oh, and the whole album follows a theme about love in outer space. DORK PARADE.
But if you just trust that this will be ok, and let the music into your head, it is the most rewarding album in the entire cosmos. Seriously. When I first got it, there were about two weeks where I had to listen to it twice through before bed every night, just staring at the stereo or laying on the floor with headphones.
It's partly that the production is super precise and spatial, so it is very sensory. And then it is partly how sincere and vulnerable the songs sound. The lyrics involve a lot of feelings about romance (the love-in-space bits are metaphorical, not sci-fi), and the music involves a lot of feelings about, e.g., disco. Apparently Mr. Polar got kicked out of Juliard for spending all his time working on these dance tracks, and then left New York to live in a rural shed and mend his crushed spirit. That at least implies a certain commitment, I think.
Also, Kelley Polar's handclaps are second only to the ones in Where Did Our Love Go by The Supremes. (Listen and learn, dancepunk.)
The album seems-- and granted my perspective might be skewed by those two weeks spent watching this album like a movie-- to have a conceptual structure that is almost on a narrative level. You go on a journey when you listen to it; each song resolves into the next and then creates new tension. (That might be another reason I find it hard to put down-- you don't feel done when a song ends, you want the next one.)
This is the fourth track, "My Beauty In The Moon." It wasn't my first favourite, but it is up there now. The beats move in a retro, travel-to-deep-space type of way (and what is that one sound-- scissors?), but it's the vocals that rip my heart out. The harmonies! The breathy bits! It's crazy!
My Trusted MOGs
Handclap showcase:
My Trusted MOGs
And a super-breathy video from this year's Chrysanthemum EP:
My Trusted MOGs
That was the coolest album back then. When I first joined Mog I was amazed how many people were playing Kelley Polar. No one I knew was listening to him but Mog was chock full of fans back then. I got his first few EP's and those are ok. I love his voice. I hadn't seen the Chrysanthemum vid yet. Thanks for posting.
My Trusted MOGs
Good stuff very original!!!!
My Trusted MOGs
I think Morgan Geist, who runs the Environ label, helped with that luscious production. Other Environ artists, such as Metro Area and Daniel Wang, are also worth checking out for more of that classy, deep disco vibe, although they don't have that heartfelt, personal pop touch that KP has. Makes me think of Arthur Russell in that way.
My Trusted MOGs
Good call on the Arthur Russell comparison-- a very similar vibe. I tried out Metro Area and Morgan Geist when I was first getting into Kelley Polar and they didn't do much for me, sounded fine but just slid right by. I think the super-personal aspect is a key for me!