Album review: Secret Codes and Battleships by Darren Hayes
Cameron Adams | National Features | October 27, 2011 12:00AM
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| Singer Darren Hayes has released a new album, Secret Codes and Battleships. Picture: UMA / |
IF you're going to bankroll your own vanity record label, you may as well use it to unleash the experimental double album about time travel you just had to get out of your system.
Now Darren Hayes is back on someone else's record label, but embracing his past.
Secret Codes and Battleships could easily be the third album Hayes' previous band, Savage Garden, never got around to making.
Creating mature pop walks a delicate line between Annie Lennox making nanna-friendly albums and Madonna running around in a leotard at 50 gyrating with Justin Timberlake.
Here Hayes makes not only an age-appropriate record (he's 40 next May), but his most mainstream-friendly release in years without losing what makes him special.
Don't Give Up was written with Steve Robson, whose CV includes everything from Take That to Rascal Flatts they make a triumphant, but still melancholic electro pop moment.
Nearly Love packs a big, lush chorus that disguises lyrics such as "my heart is a lonesome ghost, I'd never feel you anyway".
Hurt is even sadder ("I'm the kind of person who can barely be loved"), but armed with a tune that positively smiles out of your speakers.
There's an emotional mini-tidal wave contained in Black Out the Sun and Talk Talk Talk is just a great pop song, simple as that.
Every Darren Hayes album has a sucker-punch: previous ones include Truly Madly Deeply, Two Beds and a Coffee Machine, Void, Like it Or Not and How to Build a Time Machine.
In 2011 Hayes targets your musical sweet spot with Bloodstained Heart. It starts as a gorgeous, minimal ballad starring that voice. Soon it morphs into a euphoric Coldplay-style anthem that lifts your mood in under four minutes.
Darren Hayes making the ruthless world of pop music a more interesting, honest place since 1996.
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BBC Review
Marvellously manages the balance between sharp observations and effortless melodies.
Natalie Shaw 2011-10-24Secret Codes and Battleships sees Darren Hayes return from a four-year break with his signature glossiness, passion for melody and aura of hushed drama. It’s a record dark and naive in equal part, and full of necessary indulgence; in expelling his demons, every sentiment and situation has the contrast turned up.
This is an album designed for Hayes’ howling melisma and strained falsetto. So far, so un-fun – but for all of the singer’s desperation, the songs are thankfully not without moments of euphoria. Some 14 years after Savage Garden’s arrival, Hayes’ path has left the glorious soft-rock schmaltz behind for a discography of edgier, sequenced sounds and personal revelation. Here, he sets off on a well-trodden track – finding triumph in desperation and catharsis in songwriting, to impressive avail.
Disconnect is the theme of Secret Codes and Battleships, an album contrastingly set in the context of a happy five-year-long marriage. While some of the analogies – such as Taken by the Sea’s "I am an island, you are the ocean" – induce a lasting grimace, there’s a touching humility running through proceedings. While not an entirely new consideration for Hayes (listen back to Strange Relationship, from his debut solo album Spin), it’s a relieving realisation, despite its indulgence.
Producers Walter Afanasieff and Carl Falk have been brought on board to throw Hayes straight back into the pop world he sprang from, and as such the gloss and sharpness of this record is remarkable; the instrumentation is rich, and the choruses consistently bright and colossal. The main misfires are the over-earnest God Walking Into the Room and Hurt, which aims for Coldplay’s syncopated grandiosity but instead simpers away into the tracklisting.
Talk Talk Talk’s compressed synths and kaleidoscopic middle-eight strive studiously towards the frantic laments of Confessions on a Dancefloor-era Madonna. Black Out the Sun, meanwhile, continues where Talk Talk Talk departs – it’s bruised and delicate but never final, the sad continuation of a communication gap set against an exultant backing.
Hayes mostly knows what suits him, which is fortunate for all involved; feelings are exaggerated throughout, rewarding long-term fans’ patience with an album so very human and imperfect, an unshielded account of both personal and universal emotions. But the mastery comprises something bigger and harder to come by – Darren Hayes’ songs quite marvellously manage a balance between sharp observations and out-and-out effortless melodies.
[Source]
Album Review: Darren Hayes - Secret Codes And Battleships
21 October 2011
Out now
Darren Hayes has returned with his first record in four years, and it's an album that will add further longevity to an already impressive career.
Raising to prominance with Savage Garden, Hayes described Secret Codes And Battleships as a pop album, comparing it to the duo's debut record.
In our interview, he spoke of his ambition to create an album as a piece of art, a cohesive body of work.
It's an aim he's undoubtedly achieved across a well-crafted, consistent addition to his brilliant back catalogue.
At its heart, Secret Codes And Battleships is a wonderful celebration of pop music, proving that the genre isn't just plagued by the likes of The Wanted or Cher Lloyd.
The album isn't without it's weaker moments - the lyrics on 'Nearly Love' will make you cringe, although it's catchy in spite of this.
Instrumentally, Hayes has created a highly sophisticated record, carried by pop sensibilities but strengthened by an added depth missing from a lot of the genres more mainstream acts.
The strings on tracks like new single 'Black Out The Sun' are arranged well and add to the track, rather than feeling forced and detracted from the quality.
Secret Codes And Battleships is a record that excells in the instrumentation and melody rather than a deep lyrical content suggested by titles like 'God Walking Into The Room'.
The latter is a beautiful love song, although it continues an unfortunate trend of less-than-steller lyrics.
However, what can't be denied is that it's certainly a breath of fresh air compared to the dirge of boy-bands and X Factor pop acts breaking through - indeed, 'Hurt' is a wonderfully deep, honest insight into Hayes' mind.
This is a veteran continuing an admirable career with another fantastic record.
Whether it will be knocking on the door of any end of year lists remains to be seen, as it often feels less diverse than it perhaps should.
Regardless, any criticisms aimed at the album would be minor in comparison to the quality on display here, as Darren Hayes puts out yet another great full-lenghth.
Female First - Alistair McGeorge
[Source]
Darren Hayes Returns with Talk of Secret Codes and Battleships
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| Darren Hayes Returns with Talk of Secret Codes and Battleships |
Download Darren's new single Talk Talk Talk now on iTunes
Darren Hayes has emerged from the studio having spent 4 years crafting a collection of songs that are reminiscent of the kind that firmly established him as the voice of a generation. Secret Codes and Battleships (out October) is an album that is undeniably pop but beautifully bruised and wonderfully dented with a maturity, delicate reflection, and an emotional substance that could only come from a true career artist.
The infectious first single 'Talk Talk Talk' was written and produced with Swedish producer/co-writer Carl Falk and featuring string arrangements by Swede Mattias Bylund, whose family worked on all the string arrangements for Abba – there's a sense of past pop perfection infused with today’s sounds. Hayes has struck that perfect balance between his own recent foray into electronic music and the chart-topping pop energy that is sweeping the globe. It boasts all the instant melodies that Hayes is renowned for, balanced out with an emotional lyric, which highlights his song writing ability.
The music video for 'Talk Talk Talk' is a moving piece of art based on the work of album cover designer John Gilsenan. Written and directed by Richard Cullen in collaboration with animator and film makers Andrew Philip and Gavin Elder it is a moving representation of the world of the new album. Watch the clip on darrenhayes.com
Darren's history began as one part of the global chart-smashing duo Savage Garden who had a string of unforgettable hit singles and two albums that soundtracked the 90’s pop generation. After disbanding in 2001, Darren Hayes went on to release three solo albums – Spin (2002), The Tension And The Spark (2004), and the independently released This Delicate Thing We’ve Made (2007). With the release of each album Hayes has explored his creative musical desires, earning the praise of fans and critics alike and tallying over 26 million albums sales over his musical career to date. Darren had spent the last decade stretching his wings creatively with experiments in sound and achievements in live shows. His collaborations with U2’s stage director Willie Williams resulted in sold out performances at London’s Royal Albert Hall and Australia’s Sydney Opera House. But amidst the creative flurry – Hayes felt a beckoning to reconnect with a wider audience again.
Writing the new album has been a voyage of discovery, and in the end, he's come home; the prodigal pop-son has returned.
New single - TALK TALK TALK - out now!
New album – SECRET CODES AND BATTLESHIPS - out October 2011
For more info go to:
darrenhayes.com
youtube.com/darrenhayes
twitter.com/darrenhayes
facebook.com/DarrenHayesOfficial
darrenhayes.com
youtube.com/darrenhayes
twitter.com/darrenhayes
facebook.com/DarrenHayesOfficial
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