Thomas Dolby, Synth-Pop's Restless Genius Hits the Road

Thomas Dolby never really went away. Though he's often (unfairly) portrayed as a short-time sensation with a couple of catchy 80s hits to his name, he's actually had a long and fruitful career--both in and outside the music industry. Now, after more than a decade out of the industry mainstream, he's touring again, giving ungrateful Americans a chance to see what they were missing.

Far from being only a one- or two-hit wonder, Dolby is songwriter behind remarkable, nuanced albums such as"The Golden Age of Wireless," an evocative meditation on communication technology, yearning and alienation which uses synth wizardry in surprising and emotionally satisfying ways. At the time (1982), synth-driven songs meant Gary Numan and A Flock of Seagulls, but Dolby saw the artistic potential in what was then an awkward, expensive and kludgy toy.

Over the following ten years, he'd continue to create stunning material that ranged all over the map stylistically while keeping his fascination with synth play at the fore. (He also took time out to play keyboards for Foreigner and Def Leppard -- and how many techno-nerds can say that?)

During his hiatus from active recording and touring, it's not as though Dolby was sitting on his hands. In 1993, building on his mastery of arcane synthesizer technology, he founded mobile music company Beatnik. Today, 300 million cell phones play polyphonic ringtones using Beatnik technology--and Dolby melodies.

Now, Dolby's on tour for the first time in more than a decade, and even he seems a bit disoriented, if pleasurably so. "Coming back now after ten or twelve years away, I feel like Austin Powers...who went to sleep for a decade and woke up to all these shiny new toys," Dolby told NPR last year.

Now, for this tour, he's travelling with backing band The Jazz Mafia Horns, a trio of young San Francisco players with eclectic tastes. They'll help Dolby present not only his newer material, which borrows from funk, reggae and downtown New York jazz, but also new takes on classics from Dolby's emergence in the early 80s. (By the way, don't expect the mad scientist with the femme 80s eye-liner-- the 2007 Dolby is broader-faced, heavier and completely bald. It's a bit more forbidding look, to say the least.)

If you attend, you can expect to hear tunes from his 2006 release, "The Sole Inhabitant," and some references to his chart-topping tunes, but everything else is up for grabs...and that's a good thing. Dolby wouldn't be Dolby if he did what you wanted him to do. Just show up and keep your eyes open.

DOWNLOADS: "Hot Sauce"/ "One of Our Submarines"