While I Keep Falling Down

Adventure “Smoke and Mirrors”

Adventure’s Benny Boeldt is signed to Carpark Records and he’s a member of Dan Deacon’s crew, but he’s not the artsy indie weirdo you might expect from that pedigree. He’s actually a tidy synthpop formalist, a tuneful balladeer who sounds as if he’s spent years obsessing over Human League, Soft Cell, Erasure, OMD, Depeche Mode and Pet Shop Boys. “Smoke and Mirrors” is his finest composition — it’s the catchiest, probably, but it nails the most charming thing about proper 80s synthpop: An ideal ratio of melancholy melody sung in a handsome voice and perkiness delivered by sparkling keyboards and snappy beats.

Buy it from Amazon.