His eyes were closed, but Chan Poling's face was cherubically happy as he crooned the dark and dreamy "Dizzy" at a recent rehearsal. Then he came to the instrumental bridge. His eyes opened, one eyebrow arched, his shoulders became hunched and he turned into Lon Chaney playing monster-movie music on a small electric keyboard.

These Polaroid snapshots are Poling in a nutshell: A madcap mixer of musical styles and media who is unself-consciously theatrical, accessibly quirky and just plain irresistible.

Char Poling

Jeff Wheeler

Star Tribune

For a dozen years, his music has been heard regularly in productions at Theatre de la Jeune Lune and in network TV shows and obscure films. He's better known, though, as co-lead singer of the Suburbs, the brainy and zany, cutting-edge new-wave band that reigned supreme in the Twin Cities from 1978 to '87. Now, after working behind the scenes for several years, Poling, at 44, is about to release his first solo pop album.

"It took me a while," he said, smoothing back that shock of dirty-blond hair waiting to be moussed for the stage once again. "The commercial [rock] world kinda poisoned me, and it took a while to get the toxins out of my system."

"Calling All Stars" is quintessential Poling pop -- Bryan Ferry meets Tom Waits and Leonard Cohen in a bohemian lounge in Minneapolis. It's smart with an air of sophistication, a blush of romanticism and a vibe of "hopeful melancholy," as Poling puts it.

"I'm a hopeful person. My favorite thing is to be out in the world and watch ducks," he said, gesturing toward Lake Harriet across from his Minneapolis duplex. "But there's a great sadness about life I like to dig into."

That's surely true when he writes his own pop material, such as the moody piano ballad "New Sad Song" or the gypsy-flavored "Insensible." But most of his creative time is spent on other projects. He has a 65-page kids' fiction book in the hands of a literary agent. He has finished a screenplay and songs for an animated movie. And he's 12 songs into "Heaven," a big-time, aimed-for-Broadway musical about wartime Bosnia, commissioned by St. Paul's Ordway Center for the Performing Arts.

"I've never known him to have less than three things going at once," said guitarist and arts administrator Chris Osgood, who has known Poling for 40 years and has taught songwriting with him for the past 15.

"Chan is a great processor. A lot of ideas tumble around in the spin cycle before he puts one on the ironing board."

The front room of Poling's place suggests his broad range of interests. A jazz fakebook and Eric Satie sheet music sit atop a grand piano, which is next to a boombox loaded with a Harry Nilsson CD. Turn around and choose from a shelf full of movies: "Dr. No," "Beauty and the Beast," "James and the Giant Peach."

"He has a huge musical vocabulary -- from eminently baroque to Thelonious Monkish," Osgood said.

It's not just the knowledge. It's the vision.

Osgood recalls Poling showing up late for an appointment. When asked why, the pianist said he was "just musing. I've got a rich inner life."

For Poling, the objective is not fame or self-expression. It's about creating, and collaborating with other creators.

"He's a true artist and a true team player," says Ordway president Kevin McCollum, who, after hearing an audition tape, hired Poling to work with two others on "Heaven." "And he can be a star when he needs to be."

McCollum, who first made his mark in New York as co-producer of the pop musical "Rent," thinks Poling can have a major future in musical theater while staying in the Twin Cities.

"He's a voice we need to listen to," the Ordway chief said from his New York office. "He's a great music storyteller. He has the ability to meld musical styles that don't sound like theater songs yet it's narrative and compelling."

Never a day job

Chandler Hall Poling has never had a day job, unless you count parking cars at Lord Fletcher's when he was in high school. He grew up in Wayzata and Deephaven, the son of a banker/investment-fund director and a homemaker who encouraged artistic pursuits (Chan's older brother is a painter in New York, his sister a writer and staffer at a Twin Cities children's bookstore).

After playing piano at friends' houses, he started lessons at age 9.

"I was a serious kid," he reflected. "I wanted to figure music things out."

When he was 11 or 12, he performed "You Only Live Twice" from the James Bond movie at a recital. As a 15-year-old at Blake School, he formed a jazz fusion band. Two years later, his next group, Squeeze Me Orange, was performing Stockhausen at Walker Art Center.

He went to California Institute of the Arts to study music. During his second year in Los Angeles, Poling got hooked on punk rock and headed back to Minneapolis to start a band. Osgood introduced him to some musicians, and the Suburbs were born.

It featured two distinct singer/songwriters: Poling was the suave standup piano man in a sportcoat while Beej Chaney was the wild guitarist who might wear a yellow slicker onstage or climb up the light rigging. The Suburbs' shows were dance-happy parties, and their albums "In Combo" and "Credit in Heaven," on the influential indie Twin/Tone Records, earned them an underground following nationwide. The 'Burbs graduated to major labels with "Love Is the Law" for PolyGram and "Suburbs" for A&M. The band broke up in '87 and reunited from '93 to '96.

Meanwhile, Poling had become involved in theater projects, composing scores for Jeune Lune shows such as "Cyrano," "The Nightingale" and "1789 -- The French Revolution," which drew upon sounds ranging from Handel to cabaret to Philip Glass. One creation, "Children of Paradise," also was staged in New York City and San Diego.

In addition, he wrote music for commercials for Colgate, Mercedes and Farm Bureau Insurance. "He's persistent about getting ideas to people," Osgood said. A Suburbs song ended up in a prom scene on TV's "Roseanne" (the royalty checks still roll in). Poling also wrote a song for "Melrose Place" and composed music for Tom Arnold's short-lived sitcom, "The Tom Show," as well as several TV documentaries and independent movies.

After the Suburbs split, he had various versions of the Chan Poling Band and, with two other ex-Suburbs, played in Buzzwell, a late '90s lightweight rock band of which he's not particularly proud.

Manifesto destiny

Last year, he was thinking about naming a film-production company Manifesto (after a Roxy Music album). He did a copyright search on the Internet and discovered Manifesto Records, which was founded by Frank Zappa and put out albums by Tom Waits, Captain Beefheart and others. So Poling sent a version of his solo-album-in-progress to Manifesto.

Jen Casebeer, Manifesto's talent scout, had discovered the Suburbs 10 years ago while working at a record shop in Salem, Ore. So she recognized Poling's name when his package came across her desk.

"I was a bit excited," she recalled. Then she was impressed by the music, its depth, textures and moodiness as well as the "honest and intelligent lyrics."

So Poling signed with Manifesto, current home to the reunited L.A. rockers Concrete Blonde, Scotland's Ballboy, Seattle popster Ken Stringfellow and punk heroes the Dead Kennedys. Manifesto doesn't plan to make a Poling video, but Casebeer hopes he will tour to promote the project.

A divorced father of three, ages 12 to 19, Poling doesn't want to spend his life on the road again. But "I wanna play," he said, sounding more melancholy than determined.

"I've got a record. I'll tour. We'll see who's interested in this kind of music."

First, he's going to do a hometown CD-release party on Wednesday. That's why he's been walking around Lake Harriet with a Discman, memorizing the lyrics of "Calling All Stars," and rehearsing with a new band in a northeast Minneapolis warehouse.

But he's not playing in a rock club like other local musicians who stage I've-got-a-new-CD celebrations. Appropriately enough, it's at Theatre de la Jeune Lune.

IF YOU GO

Chan Poling

What: Concert to celebrate his new solo CD, '"Calling All Stars."

When: 8 p.m. Wed.

Where: Theatre de la Jeune Lune, 105 N. 1st St., Mpls. 612-333-6200.

Tickets: $10; advance tickets at Electric Fetus.

-- Jon Bream is at popmusic@startribune.com or 612-673-1719.