In LA Magazine (US)
Fairlight Symphony
By Lawrence Ferber
August 20, 2007

Fairlight Symphony
Former Savage Garden-er Darren Hayes cultivates his own sound with a new double album, This Delicate Thing We've Made.
By Lawrence Ferber

Darren Hayes has gone from savage to fierce: Formerly half of the wildly successful pop duo Savage Garden ("Truly Madly Deeply," "I Knew I Loved You"), Hayes has turned fiercely independent with his 25-song, double-CD solo effort, This Delicate Thing We've Made.

The first release from his own Powdered Sugar Productions label, Delicate is something of a concept album, with every song incorporating the iconic 1980s Fairlight CMI synthesizer ("We played [Kate Bush's] 'Running Up That Hill' a lot!" he quips) and themes of time travel. It’s also daring, dramatic and divergent in sound and style: There’s shiny Eurodisco ("Fear of Falling Under"); if-Giorgio-Moroder-produced-a-collaboration-between-the-Scissor-Sisters-and-OMD ("Step into the Light"); showtune-esque ballads ("A Hundred Challenging Things a Boy Can Do”); lush synth-pop perfection (“The Sun Is Always Blinding Me," "The Only One"); and a plucky ditty reminiscent of Russian pop oddity, Vitas ("Neverland").

Based in London, the Australia-born Hayes has also taken liberating steps in his personal life: He officially came out when he married his boyfriend, Richard Cullen, in 2006, and played Stockholm's Gay Pride. Hayes spoke to IN Los Angeles magazine as he prepared for his new album’s U.S. release and a theatrical tour to support it.

An obvious question first: Why the Fairlight as the album's common thread?

It's almost like my talisman or muse because there's something I loved about the records I grew up listening to and they were largely created with either a (mindrum) machine or Fairlight synth. ... On a deeper level, the Fairlight represents a period of music before it went digital. It had this analog warmth to it, and in a lot of ways I felt like using the Fairlight was ... [similar to how] a clairvoyant might want to hold an object to see. For me, having the Fairlight, even if just metaphorical, was a device [through] which I could get into that headspace. [I] see it as this time machine, this magical tool.

It's on every single track?

Every song on the record features at least one sound from the Fairlight. Some are entirely Fairlight, with some it's just one blip.

Were any tracks left off the album?

There were probably 12 songs, demos, that didn't get recorded. We're talking at the moment about releasing a version that's a DVD and 13 of the songs have animated videos in surround sound. A separate disc would contain the demos I recorded and things that didn't make it. So there may not be a director's cut, but an ultimate-extras version of the record someday. It's so fun having my own label now because I can do whatever I want.

Knowing your affinity for Victorian-era England, would you have loved to go back in time and lived for a week during Oscar Wilde's glory days?

Yes. There's one room in my house that we [call] "the Oscar Wilde room." It’s just very decadent and opulent. To me Oscar represents the true definition of queer. This incredible creative thinker, politically wild and socially up there in the ether. I find myself, as a gay man, really loving that side of being gay. A lot of gay men have that, maybe it's [because] the burden of being a parent is taken off you so therefore your whole life is to live and dream and create. He was incredible.

Oh, my God—I used to date the Bosies! I was really into destructive relationships. But yes, [Richard] is adorable. It's great that he's creative—he's an ex-film lecturer at universities. He was a scholar and then got into animation, so we share a lot of common interests, and it’s the best relationship I've ever had. I don't have to apologize for what I do for a living.

Does your relationship filter into any of the songs on this album?

Yes and no. This isn't a love song dedication record at all. There's one song about Richard directly—you'll have to find out which one. But in general I talk a lot about deeper things. My relationship to my father [and] my childhood and some of the violence there. I explore what I'm like as a human being, what I'm like in a relationship. So sure our relationship colors the record in that it's made me feel strong and supported and brave so I can be experimental. But there certainly aren't songs about him shuffling down in his slippers as I'm singing.

As an openly gay man, did you shudder when Clay Aiken did a cover of your song, "When You Say You Love Me"?

No. To be honest, bless his soul, Clay doing that song recouped my publishing advance. In a period where I couldn't get arrested in America, that sweet boy, whether he knew it or not, made me a lot of money. But I don't know him or much about him.

You have close to 22,000 friends on your MySpace page, and I noticed a few of them are shirtless. Does that help one get accepted into your top MySpace friends?

(Laughs) No. In fact, a teddy bear in your picture, a picture of me, or you with your clothes off does not generally make me want to say yes‚ but you know, to each their own.

And do you get a lot of messages? Do you read them?

Yeah. It's amazing. I run it myself completely. I have a person who helps administer, goes through comments and things and deletes the occasional asshole, but in general it’s been amazing to connect with people—especially Americans—who, honestly, thought I was dead. I'm still here! I will request friends. I'll go to people's sites if I dig their music and say, "Hey, check me out." It's been, dare I say it, really humbling. It reminds me of how it used to be at the very beginning of my career and I loved it.

Your previous solo CD, The Tension and the Spark, was never released stateside. Can fans look forward to it being available on iTunes at some point, though?

Yes, we're in discussions with Sony to release it on iTunes for the very patient American fans who asked for it.

For more information on This Delicate Thing We've Made, go to www.darrenhayes.com.

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