Darren Hayes - Secret Codes & Battleships (Album Review)
Wednesday, 26 October 2011
Written by Steven James
Darren Hayes, previously one half of the Australian pop duo Savage Garden, has just released his fourth studio album 'Secret Codes and Battleships'. Darren has had a four year gap since his last studio release and in that time he had been charged with writing songs to be used by people like Simon Cowell and Leona Lewis, some of which made it onto the album – which gives you a little bit of foresight of what's to come.
This album has been hailed as being a throwback to Hayes' Savage Garden days. This has been said like it's a good thing, and I know Savage Garden were sometimes credited with writing some of the best pop songs of all time, but for the life of me I just can't remember how they went (I swear pop songs are supposed to be catchy?) so the lasting appeal completely baffles me and if I'm honest the same goes for Darren Hayes' solo work. Nothing about any of the tracks on this album stand out to me. I find his music pretty lacklustre if I'm honest, yet his previous albums have all ranked in top half (the previous two even in the top 5) of the album charts, with this one looking to do similarly.
The first single 'Talk Talk Talk' was released back in May. Darren himself described the track as a song "that you can dance to in a club, but at the same time you can listen to it after a breakup" and I'm not sure what kinda clubs this guy goes too, but this song would not get me going in a club. It has quite a dancey synth part I guess, but the beat is in no way driven enough. As for the part about breakups; well, if I ever write anything that's supposed to be heartfelt and emotional, I hope the lyrics are more penetrating and moving than this. It would not have been the track I'd have chosen to be the leading single.
In fairness, I suppose he does have really quite a good voice, although there's nothing edgy about it at all and I guess the same goes for the music; it is very difficult to actually find a fault in it, but it's all just too easy to listen to and doesn't really say anything. All of the tracks are all very well sequenced, it all fits together pretty flawlessly and it's not unpleasant to listen to, I just don't think there's anything about it that makes it particularly good. But apparently there are a lot of people out there who disagree with me.
I'm not saying I'm not one to appreciate pop music here. A lot of artists have managed to make a lot of very interesting sounding pop music. The most notable at moment being Lady GaGa, obviously. I completely appreciate Lady GaGa, she manages to write songs that are catchy, fun and occasionally pretty edgy but yet still fit well within the boundaries of a modern pop song.
Even at his most climactic, with tracks such as 'Bloodstained Heart' (another single and one of the few songs on the album that stood out to me), I still don't think it's anything too attention grabbing. But hey, maybe I just don't get chart music.
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This album has been hailed as being a throwback to Hayes' Savage Garden days. This has been said like it's a good thing, and I know Savage Garden were sometimes credited with writing some of the best pop songs of all time, but for the life of me I just can't remember how they went (I swear pop songs are supposed to be catchy?) so the lasting appeal completely baffles me and if I'm honest the same goes for Darren Hayes' solo work. Nothing about any of the tracks on this album stand out to me. I find his music pretty lacklustre if I'm honest, yet his previous albums have all ranked in top half (the previous two even in the top 5) of the album charts, with this one looking to do similarly. 
