AchtungBono
Refugee
Giving you all a "heads-up" for one of the most eagerly anticipated releases of 2007.
Here's the official press release for Darren Hayes' 25-song double album due to be released on his label (Powdered Sugar) in August of 2007.
GREAT news for DH fans and fans of good music everywhere.
++++++++
Darren Hayes
*This Delicate Thing We've Made
Darren Hayes could never be accused of doing anything by
convention. In a music industry terrified by ever decreasing sales,
where budgets are being slashed and the dumbing down of artistry is
commonplace - Hayes has pulled out all the stops and recorded an
epic and theatrical double album.
He has defiantly said no to the seductive invitation of the majors
and is instead gearing up to release his latest album on his very
own independent label `Powdered Sugar'. Darren Hayes is doing
things his own way. And he wants everyone to know about it.
His upcoming album `This Delicate Thing We've Made' is an ambitious
and cinematic opus. Featuring 25 bold and wildly extravagant pop
songs that are already being compared in scope to the work of heroes
Kate Bush and David Bowie. And perhaps most fascinatingly, was
recorded with a strict commitment to a particular piece of
technology as muse and inspiration – a vintage 1983 Fairlight CMI
Synthesizer, a clunky synth relic that he scored off EBay. The same
model that was at the heart of Kate Bush's pivotal recording `The
Hounds of Love'
It's been 5 years of changes for Australian born and London based
Hayes. His independent streak has been ramping up for some years
now – but reached the pinnacle last year when he simultaneously
announced the parting of ways with Columbia records and his marriage
to British boyfriend Richard Cullen in a Civil Partnership ceremony
at their home in London.
Out. Personally, professionally and creatively.
And for the first time in 10 years, in control of his publishing and
recording future.
Most know the bullet points of Hayes' pop career. They begin with
two words: Savage Garden. As the voice and co-songwriter of those
two massive Billboard Number One singles `Truly Madly Deeply' and `I
Knew I Loved You' he enjoyed global sales of over 25 million
records.
After just two multi platinum hit albums, his band Savage Garden
parted ways and Darren decided to do his own thing. This included
two solo albums, the first being 2002's poptastic 2 million selling
UK and Australian top 5 album `Spin'. His 2nd solo album, a deep,
dark and broodingly electronic confessional `The Tension and the
Spark' featured collaborations with experimental programmers Robert
Conley, the renowned Marius De Vries (Rufus Wainwright, Bjork) and
mixes by Mark `Spike' Stent (Madonna, Mirwais, Massive Attack).
This record seemed to signal a turning point in Hayes' artistry. It
brought forth stunning reviews from the likes of the UK's
prestigious NME (describing Hayes as a `genius'). The irony of
releasing the best reviewed album of his career was that in the US
it was in the hands of a record company who, in Hayes' words, "Just
didn't get it". Rather than lose sleep over it, Hayes decided to
focus on what he does best: performance.
He spent 2 years touring the U.K, Australia and Asia with variations
of a stage show created with long time U2 show designer Willie
Williams (U2, Rolling Stones, We Will Rock You). In fact last
summer he played to over 30 thousand Brits and triumphantly filmed
two sold out and stunningly reviewed shows at Australia's
prestigious Sydney Opera House.
Building up an arsenal of songs over what Hayes now describes as
his `gap years' he entered London's Mayfair Studios in October 2006
with producer Justin Shave to record his double album `This Delicate
Thing We've Made'. Like his mentors Peter Gabriel and Annie Lennox,
Hayes had been driven by his demons as much as his ambitions. The
effect of those teenage years of burying the shameful secrets of
both his violent upbringing and emerging homosexuality would fuel a
sadness and a sense of longing that would continue to inform his
songwriting.
Some of the songs on the record would not sound out of place in a
musical about Jules Verne or H.G Wells' `The Time Machine'. But
they're just a metaphor says Hayes of his `Victorian Science
Fiction' dress code. "With this record I was fascinated with the
idea of Time Travel as storytelling device to address regret and the
possibility for change. I kept obsessing over the notion that if I
could travel back in time to the source of my sadness as a child, I
would not choose to bring back the violence or the tears. Instead
I'd drag some joy back". In doing so Hayes has managed to craft an
album of complex narratives and personal confessions that
simultaneously document his arrival at peace within himself and the
question that we could all ask ourselves. What would you change,
if you could?
"It's not a concept record, but there is definitely the idea that it
begins with a loss of consciousness and a giving over to the notion
that we are going to go deep into the psyche," he explains. Songs
like `Neverland' are as dark as any Tim Burton fairytale or Del
Toro's `Pan's Labyrinth'. In stark contrast `Who Would Have
Thought' is a gorgeous soaring and moody pop vehicle for tenor Hayes
to exclaim "Who would have thought the tiny courageous? Who would
have thought that love so belated could save me?" As if to say that
all the pain and suffering was worth it in the end.
And according to Hayes, it has been.
"This Delicate Thing We've Made" out August. Co Produced by Darren
with Justin Shave and Robert Conley. Mixed by Ash Howes (Nelly
Furtado, Dido, Kylie)
www.darrenhayes.com www.myspace.com/darrenhayesofficialmusic
Here's the official press release for Darren Hayes' 25-song double album due to be released on his label (Powdered Sugar) in August of 2007.
GREAT news for DH fans and fans of good music everywhere.
++++++++
Darren Hayes
*This Delicate Thing We've Made
Darren Hayes could never be accused of doing anything by
convention. In a music industry terrified by ever decreasing sales,
where budgets are being slashed and the dumbing down of artistry is
commonplace - Hayes has pulled out all the stops and recorded an
epic and theatrical double album.
He has defiantly said no to the seductive invitation of the majors
and is instead gearing up to release his latest album on his very
own independent label `Powdered Sugar'. Darren Hayes is doing
things his own way. And he wants everyone to know about it.
His upcoming album `This Delicate Thing We've Made' is an ambitious
and cinematic opus. Featuring 25 bold and wildly extravagant pop
songs that are already being compared in scope to the work of heroes
Kate Bush and David Bowie. And perhaps most fascinatingly, was
recorded with a strict commitment to a particular piece of
technology as muse and inspiration – a vintage 1983 Fairlight CMI
Synthesizer, a clunky synth relic that he scored off EBay. The same
model that was at the heart of Kate Bush's pivotal recording `The
Hounds of Love'
It's been 5 years of changes for Australian born and London based
Hayes. His independent streak has been ramping up for some years
now – but reached the pinnacle last year when he simultaneously
announced the parting of ways with Columbia records and his marriage
to British boyfriend Richard Cullen in a Civil Partnership ceremony
at their home in London.
Out. Personally, professionally and creatively.
And for the first time in 10 years, in control of his publishing and
recording future.
Most know the bullet points of Hayes' pop career. They begin with
two words: Savage Garden. As the voice and co-songwriter of those
two massive Billboard Number One singles `Truly Madly Deeply' and `I
Knew I Loved You' he enjoyed global sales of over 25 million
records.
After just two multi platinum hit albums, his band Savage Garden
parted ways and Darren decided to do his own thing. This included
two solo albums, the first being 2002's poptastic 2 million selling
UK and Australian top 5 album `Spin'. His 2nd solo album, a deep,
dark and broodingly electronic confessional `The Tension and the
Spark' featured collaborations with experimental programmers Robert
Conley, the renowned Marius De Vries (Rufus Wainwright, Bjork) and
mixes by Mark `Spike' Stent (Madonna, Mirwais, Massive Attack).
This record seemed to signal a turning point in Hayes' artistry. It
brought forth stunning reviews from the likes of the UK's
prestigious NME (describing Hayes as a `genius'). The irony of
releasing the best reviewed album of his career was that in the US
it was in the hands of a record company who, in Hayes' words, "Just
didn't get it". Rather than lose sleep over it, Hayes decided to
focus on what he does best: performance.
He spent 2 years touring the U.K, Australia and Asia with variations
of a stage show created with long time U2 show designer Willie
Williams (U2, Rolling Stones, We Will Rock You). In fact last
summer he played to over 30 thousand Brits and triumphantly filmed
two sold out and stunningly reviewed shows at Australia's
prestigious Sydney Opera House.
Building up an arsenal of songs over what Hayes now describes as
his `gap years' he entered London's Mayfair Studios in October 2006
with producer Justin Shave to record his double album `This Delicate
Thing We've Made'. Like his mentors Peter Gabriel and Annie Lennox,
Hayes had been driven by his demons as much as his ambitions. The
effect of those teenage years of burying the shameful secrets of
both his violent upbringing and emerging homosexuality would fuel a
sadness and a sense of longing that would continue to inform his
songwriting.
Some of the songs on the record would not sound out of place in a
musical about Jules Verne or H.G Wells' `The Time Machine'. But
they're just a metaphor says Hayes of his `Victorian Science
Fiction' dress code. "With this record I was fascinated with the
idea of Time Travel as storytelling device to address regret and the
possibility for change. I kept obsessing over the notion that if I
could travel back in time to the source of my sadness as a child, I
would not choose to bring back the violence or the tears. Instead
I'd drag some joy back". In doing so Hayes has managed to craft an
album of complex narratives and personal confessions that
simultaneously document his arrival at peace within himself and the
question that we could all ask ourselves. What would you change,
if you could?
"It's not a concept record, but there is definitely the idea that it
begins with a loss of consciousness and a giving over to the notion
that we are going to go deep into the psyche," he explains. Songs
like `Neverland' are as dark as any Tim Burton fairytale or Del
Toro's `Pan's Labyrinth'. In stark contrast `Who Would Have
Thought' is a gorgeous soaring and moody pop vehicle for tenor Hayes
to exclaim "Who would have thought the tiny courageous? Who would
have thought that love so belated could save me?" As if to say that
all the pain and suffering was worth it in the end.
And according to Hayes, it has been.
"This Delicate Thing We've Made" out August. Co Produced by Darren
with Justin Shave and Robert Conley. Mixed by Ash Howes (Nelly
Furtado, Dido, Kylie)
www.darrenhayes.com www.myspace.com/darrenhayesofficialmusic
