Darren Hayes - Who Would Have Thought

In the late 90s, there were few voices more ubiquitious on the radio than that of Darren Hayes. In the span of just two albums. his band--Savage Garden--managed to sell 10 million records in the US alone (double that globally) and record the two-longest running hit singles in Billboard chart history. Then, the band broke up, Darren's first solo record, a largely pop-by-numbers exercise called Spin failed to generate much interest and Hayes was yesterday's news.

In the ensuing years Hayes issued a f*ing brilliant, but criminally under-heard electro-pop opus The Tension And The Spark, a contract closing Savage Garden greatest hits record for Sony and now, a new indie released double-album This Delicate Thing We've Made following the musical path laid down on Tension.

In short, "Who Would Have Thought" is no "Truly Madly Deeply."

In fact, the track harkens most back to a maturing of the artist who recorded "To The Moon And Back," arguably the Garden's best single, whose sound was abandonned in the hunt for soft rock platinum. Hayes' latest work is an ethereal, propulsive, moody five minutes of electro-pop that reaches lyrical and sonic depths far more profound than anything typically embraced by drivetime radio.

Material like this doesn't sit comfortably next to a booty shaker like "Umbrella" and that's OK. "Who Would Have Thought" is definitely a headphones record. Pensive and yet thoroughly accessible, this is the kind of record Coldplay, Justin Timberlake or George Michael could sign their name to and change the course of the pop genre. But frankly, it's Darren Hayes who may be operating, thoroughly under the radar, as the most interesting male voice in pop.

FYI, even without the machinations of the big label machine, this guy remains a serious live performer and with material like this, we urge you to stop, look and listen.