Savage Garden |
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"Good old Savage Garden, that Australian duo, suddenly wilted after four years of existence and a harvest of 2 records but promised to be reborn later, after a few years. For now, a former lead gardener, Darren Hayes, decided to try out the audiences by himself.
The official fansite, savagefan.com (note from Fran: this site is no longer in operation) has an announcement that the band is taking a break long enough so that its lead singer, Darren Hayes, could release a solo project. On his own personal site, Darren confirmed this information, emphasizing that the band is NOT breaking up and that he will get together with instumentalist Daniel Jones very soon to write a third album. [Note: *sigh*] It's tempting, very tempting to calm down and make you, the fans of this Australian ex-duo, happy, but there doesn't seem to be any hope for it, and it looks as though from now on, the two from Savage Garden will be making fans happy separately. So... "Spin," Darren's debut album. What have we got? Well, firstly, there is a barrage of interviews, in which Darren, attempting to alter his image, states that his music is harsher, more extreme, stronger. His words, however, do not describe the music of his album when it was finally heard. Hayes' music is in the exactly same style as Savage Garden was famous for, that easily recognisable melodic soft-rock, which isn't really rock but isn't pop either. The composition of the songs is reminiscent of SG as well: the album is shock-full of ballads, with a few high-tempo songs in the mix. Of course, the ballads are good but they aren't better than SG's and not a single one of them has reached the level of "To The Moon And Back" or "Tears of Pearls." The surprise at the songs lacking that harshness has finally passed after Hayes, in the latest interview, answering the journalists' accusations at the absence of promised harshness explained that it's not in the music but in the lyrics. 'Some of my songs are about f**king,' he said, 'and you know what? F**king is great! Isn't that cool and harsh?' It does sound a bit harsh for one of the "best singers of soft ballads." However, 'cool' words do not always correspond to 'hip' music, and this album cannot be called 'hip.' The current selection of beautiful and melodic songs is calculated for the old SG audience, who will definitely enjoy it, but those who expected a heavier version of 'Affirmation' will be disappointed. The resemblance between the albums is not surprising: the same people worked with Darren's solo project as SG's last, minus Daniel Jones, of course. And that is why there is a feeling that all songs have been written by the same Savage Garden, which now has a different name, Darren Hayes. The songs that are somewhat different are the strange "Dirty" and funky "Strange Relationship," but the main emphasis is on sugary "Insatiable," marked by Darren's sugary falsetto, and for which he has already made a video. As a bonus track, the CD has a link to Darren's official site which holds over 45 (Note from Fran: actually there were 3 songs on that link) additional tracks to the album. Maybe this will go somewhere, after all. [Track listing follows, and the orange box holds the 'f**king' quote] |
