The Polyamorous Affair

Bolshevik Disco (Winter Palace)

By Emily Becker
Published: August 5th, 2009 | 12:38am

The phrase “Bolshevik disco” conjures up an anonymous, cinderblock-lined room where revelers dressed in black-market fashions flock to escape the gloom. Husband-and-wife team Eddie Chacon and Sissy Sainte-Marie of the Polyamorous Affair created Bolshevik Disco, the follow-up to their self-titled 2008 debut, as the soundtrack to just such a party. More techno-ruse than techno Russe, Bolshevik Disco employs illusion and distraction to create a façade that can re-frame unpleasant surroundings, whether the sweaty, cramped apartment is in L.A. or Leningrad.

After setting the mood with “The Interrogation (Intro)” and “Face Control,” Chacon and Sainte-Marie launch into a cover of Lou Reed’s “Satellite Of Love.” Their version plays up the otherworldly qualities that were subtly present in the original. Chacon and Sainte-Marie share vocal duties; he’s a mix of David Bowie’s lower register (“New York City,” “The Fader,”) and Prince’s falsetto, while she speak-sings like Miss Kittin. Like a half-musician, half-magician Chacon pulls out the vocoder on “White Hot Magic.” “Fashion” writhes and churns, while Chacon delivers the tongue-in-cheek refrain, “Push your fashion to the limit.”

Not unlike the White Stripes adherence to red, white, and black, Polyamorous Affair’s artifice extends beyond recorded music. The album cover depicts Chacon in a heavy-knit cap reminiscent of an Ushanka, while Sainte-Marie sports a rocking, Russian folk-inspired mini-dress. Chacon is a musical chameleon whose career varied wildly prior to the Polyamorous Affair. He played in a band with deceased Metallica bassist Cliff Burton and Faith No More’s Mike Borden before becoming one-half of Charles & Eddie, the R&B pairing behind the 1992 single, “Would I Lie To You.” The Polyamorous Affair is simply another facet of his wide musical interests. Bolshevik Disco is good enough that people should pay attention to Chacon’s next move. Maybe he will make a gospel record, or even morph into an earnest singer-songwriter.

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