Darren Hayes = still good?

April 6 or something, 1997.

I bought the original Savage Garden self-titled album. Bare in mind, I was 14 years old. It was really cool back then for a 14 year old.

I was always impressed with the lyrics of SG (Darren wrote them.) The music was always, always cheesy – cheesy pop with 80s feeling. and I hate the 80s feeling of music – why do we celebrate it? It’s strange that we do.

I saw the group perform twice in 1998 (July 1 and July 25, Saskatoon and Toronto, respectively.) I considered them one of my favourite bands. Not because of melodies – although I really respected the melodies -but rather because I connected somehow with the music. It’s easy to at age 14 through 16.

The second Savage Garden album came out in November of 1999. It was again lyrically much better than musically. Musically, it was very weak, having been produced by Mariah Carey’s Walter Afanaseiff. (like I can spell that.)

Darren’s solo album came out a year or so after the group split. It sucked. It was horrible. It had only two songs worth repetition – Spin, the title track, and Insatiable, which I spun out in a few hours.

Darren’s new album comes out soon. I am listening to the bootleg right now, and I am conflicted. On one hand, it’s the right level of depth that I require – he’s actually writing about things and feelings and people and needs and desires and hurt. The melodies are not exactly pop, but the production is layered and thick and crowded. Only a few tracks stand out. The sense of Bjork’s Mark “Spike” Stent and others is there, though. And it’s not “I wanna love you …” blah blah blah like the original works. It’s… a growth.

I’m willing to listen further. I’m waiting on Darren to continue down this path. I want him to succeed at this style of music. It’s much better than the shit pop of his first album.