This information is a press release by Sony Sweden. I love reading Darren's own thoughts on how his songs were conceived [img]smile.gif[/img] A warning though, this is a VERY long read [img]wink.gif[/img]

DARREN HAYES - "THE TENSION AND THE SPARK" - TRACK BY TRACK

DARKNESS

Much of this new album began, quite literally, as an accident. I
remember
telling myself that I was not writing, that I was not in a creative
head-space, because in some ways I knew deep down that the subject
matter
for my next project was going to come from a darker and much more
personal
space. And I was avoiding that. So around the same time that I was
making
excuses about not writing, my friends were staying in my house in San
Francisco. Robert Conley my friend, engineer and keyboard player was
working on tracks for his electronic project, 'Specificus', in the
guest
room every day. Whenever I passed by the room I'd hear what he was
working
on and find myself humming along. This track, I believe, was the
first
time we collaborated and I swear at the time I was just
casually singing along to the track. I had no idea it would result
in us
writing together, forging a creative relationship or that this would
become
the signature sound of this album and the first track.

Looking back now it makes so much sense. I was kind of lulled into a
sense
of security because in my mind I wasn't working on a Darren Hayes
record.
It was something else. It allowed me to free up the subconscious..
to talk
very honestly without thinking of the consequences and to leave the
concept
of direction up in the air. It's the introduction to the subject
matter
that is the central theme of the album.. here I am in Darkness.. at
Zero,
at my lowest point and yet still I'm searching for hope in the
darkness.
My favourite lyric ever is in this song... ' It's hard to take
control
when your enemy's old and afraid of you..You discover that the monster
you've been running from is the monster in you...

I LIKE THE WAY

I think this song was the last one finished for the album. Mostly
because
I adopted a policy of never recording my vocal until I was sure that
lyrically I was certain of what I was saying and why. Robert and I
worked
a lot on the track, and the sounds.. but
lyrically I wanted to make sure it was as heavy and textured in
detail as
it sounded. It's really a song about sexuality. It's about being
aware of
the physical aspect of attraction as opposed to the spiritual
connection of
love.. and yet still being a slave
to desire. In terms of my views on spirituality and eastern
philosophy I
am fascinated by the concept of stages of evolution of the ego and the
soul. I guess I firmly believe that lust and desire, although a huge
part
of the process of attraction, are
embryonic or adolescent stages of love. I know that ultimately the
ego
craves the physical aspect but the soul wants more. And even though
I like
to think of myself as a pretty evolved person, I am still at war with
these
two opposing energies. Then on a deeper level, I guess there's a
whole lot
of religious and moral guilt I'm addressing and how it relates to my
psyche. Probably the second most Freudian song on the album.

LIGHT

Around about the time I felt my world was slipping away, and there
was all
of this metaphorical death in my life.. of relationships.. of
romance... of
ego.. of esteem.. my best friend fell pregnant. And as simple as it
sounds... her baby represented re-birth.. and new beginnings. In the
midst
of my sadness there was this joy. I
think this song also represents the beginning of my healing
process... of
forgiving my pain, of letting go.. of love sneaking up on me..
happiness
creeping in as opposed to announcing itself with a loud bang at the
front
door. From something ordinary it's
so extraordinary. I love this song.

POP!ULAR

I'm so proud of the sound of this song. Robert had played me a five
second
riff from a piece of music he had written a while back. It was just
one
keyboard hook and I was obsessed with it. We wrote a whole track
based
around that vibe and created the craziest and most schizophrenic
programming. There was so much editing and
processing of the drums. It was laborious but such a challenge.
Lyrically
it's me addressing the fact that I've made the most personal album of
my
career in the most fickle climate. We are obsessed with fame..it has
become a vocation we now train for and people are literally willing
to do
anything to get it. At the same time I was feeling completely bored
with
my persona and the corner of musical direction I'd painted myself
into. I
was bored with pop music, bored with the radio.. and really wrote
this song
as a way of poking fun at myself and the conveyor belt that brought
me to
this point in my career. It's ironic because in the song I'm
proclaiming
all the things I am not. And yet it rings true because I'm sure deep
down
there was and some days still is a part of me that is tempted by the
devil
that is fame. Spike pulled out all the stops sonically and musically
with
this one and took it as a challenge to make it the signature cut on
the
record. Im so proud of everyone who worked on this song with us.
It's so infectious and fun but dark and sarcastic at the same time.

DUBLIN SKY

First song I ever wrote on my own. Sat down with a guitar in Dublin
one
day and howled deep from my heart about my woes. It's entirely
literal. I
was at a crossroads and sensing the end of a relationship that I
didn't
want to let go of. I put the song on
the shelf for a while and I guess like some self fulfilling prophecy,
a
year later the relationship I was in ended abruptly and the song
became the
first reflection of the experience. Going back to Dublin one night,
the
experience came full circle and I was able to finish the song from
the two
perspectives.... the first as some kind of premonition and the second
from
the point of view of the aftermath. Both experiences in Dublin had
been
brought together in one song. It's a song about loss, and regret.. of
sentiment and all the things we should have done.

HERO

Although this song probably sounds like I'm talking about falling from
grace as a celebrity - I'm actually not. Well not entirely. It's a
song
about pedestals and falling off them. Around the time of my last
tour I
remember being really disappointed in a friend of mine. At the same
time I
felt like the whole world was judging me.
I came to realize how unfair it was of me to expect such perfection
from
those I loved - that it gave them no where to go but down in my
opinion of
them. And it made me realize just how much of a con the whole hero
thing
was. The role of idol.. the fact that we iconize each other as a
society.
we choose one to be put on a platform to which we all aspire to. But
no
one tells you the job is designed to disintegrate - that the role of
hero
is intrinsically designed to self destruct. Having fallen on my own
ass
publicly with my last record I remember the sting of aspiring to be
what
other people wanted for
me. Feeling their disappointment, I realized when I wrote this song
that
I was never going to apply for that job again. And at how much more
wonderful the view was from the gutter.

UNLOVABLE

My favourite song on the record. It's essentially an unsent letter
that
became a song. At the end of a relationship I was feeling all of the
things you feel when love is denied. I felt abandoned I guess.I
wrote a
poem where essentially I said 'My Father never loved me. I know it's
not
true. But that's how you made me feel. You made me
feel like my father never loved me'. Now I sent neither the letter
or the
poem to my lover. I kept them hidden until one day during recording
my
manager spoke of how revealing and personal my new album was shaping
up to
be. She explained how proud she was of my bravery, but that she felt
there
may still be something I had yet to say.
Five minutes later Robert and I went into the studio downstairs while
the
managers were upstairs drinking wine, and came up with this song.It's
so
immediate and so raw. The first time I sang it is what you hear on
the
record. It almost made me cry and you can pick up on that I think.
One of
my favourite lyrics ever are the first few lines. Because... denial ,
anger , bargaining and depression are the first four stages of grief.
Acceptance being the final one. And in this song I guess I
experience all
five of them. I'm glad I never sent the letter but I'm happy the
experience gave me this song. What I learned from this is that the
anger
and emptiness that I felt as a
child and in relating to my parents was something I had been carrying
with
me into my relationships.This song was the moment I realized that had
to
change for good.

I FORGIVE YOU

One of a few songs I wrote and produced with Marius De Vries. I was
such a
huge fan of his work in the past with Bjork and Madonna's Ray of Light
record. But years ago when we first met I found him terrifying! He
represented the potential for massive change in
musical direction and although that excited me - four years ago I
wasn't
ready. Years later I approached him to work with me on this album
and this
song was the first thing we wrote together. It represents the real
book
end of everything I had to say from this
whole experience of being completely honest on an album, from an
autobiographical point of view. I had gone from accusation to taking
responsibility to finally letting go.
This song was possibly the most traditional structure on the record
and
Spike really messed with it in production to make it fit more with
where
the rest of the record was heading. I love the effects on the vocals
and
how messed up the guitar became. It almost sounds like white noise
but I
swear it's a fender.

VOID

This song was so immediate. I wrote it on piano and initially it was
a
simple piano ballad. Robert and I pulled the tool box of sounds out
and
replaced piano with distorted guitar and drum sounds from hell and the
result is what you hear today. I was learning the lyrics as I sang
it....
hence the fact that the chorus lyrics change
each time I sing it. It was meant to be the demo but became the final
vocal just because of how earnest the delivery was. The album
originally
opened up with this song in early sequences but we found it
disturbed too
many people so we had to move it further down the track list to ease
people
into the direction change. I love the
lyric 'just like a spinal chord severed and broken, but the spark
still
tries'

FEEL

I have always been fascinated with the simplicity of John Lennon's
love
songs to Yoko Ono. In some ways this song is fashioned after that
almost
haiku like simplicity.
None of the sentences are finished in a grammatical sense, but in a
musical
sense. So there is always a double entendre. Until a verse ends the
sentence has one meaning
but then gets clarified or becomes more complicated depending as the
song
carries on. For example, when I say 'you teach me how to love..'
that is a
complete statement.. until I say 'parts of myself..I hated for so
long'..So
I'm using the song as a metaphor for love. And not romantic love.
Love for
the self, for spirit, for God. It represent to me the first time
ever on
an album that I don't have this idealistic or unrealistic view of
romantic
love as this thing that is going to complete me or save me. This
song
demonstrates a desire to understand that real love comes from
within. From
a production point of view, this one is all about minimalism. We were
definitely inspired by Matmos - the microbeat extraordinares from San
Francisco.

LOVE AND ATTRACTION

What can I say about this song? Electro inspired. All about having to
laugh at the stupidity of courtship and how everyone I ever want is
unavailable and how everyone who really wants me isn't even on my
radar.
Cupid's cruel joke on us all.

EGO

The one true reference to the ego of a pop-star, killed off and laid
out
for all to see.
Tying in with the song Hero, this revisits, in a more freudian sense,
the
concept of falling from grace and how the ego thrashes to
survive.From a
spiritual point of view, I understand how this little monster can
unnecessarily complicate your life, and yet realistically it's like a
petulant child you love to hate and hate to love.Ego. And letting go
of
it. Or perhaps just admitting that I have no desire to do so.


SENSE OF HUMOR

I quite like songs of self deprecation. This song is, I guess, about
longing to be understood when you feel misunderstood. When you
glance at
someone from across a room and you feel dismissed. That moment of
fantasy
when you play out the conversation that could have been... when you
imagine
them laughing at all your jokes and really 'getting you'..It's really
quite
a dark and brooding moment. I guess the precipice from which became
the
starting point for this album. The freefall from grace and all that
taught
me about myself began with this one self deprecating moment.

INTERNATIONAL BONUS TRACK

BOY
Once again, working with Marius De Vries, here I am for the first time
abandoning song structure and just free associating. This was just a
tiny
piece of music that I heard Marius play.. and it reminded me of a
conveyor
belt of life. I imagined a tiny robot boy being built and the
machines and
computers telling him all the things I was
told as a child. All the good and all the bad. All the cliches of
what
masculinity is supposed to be. The fascinating thing about this
track to
me is that there are three simultaneous dialogues going on and I
recorded
each one just once. When it played back the first time it was so
crazy
because we didn't know what we'd have. I love
this piece.. I can't even call it a song.. it's incredibly
courageous and
a stroke of genius from Marius. It's disturbing and yet beautiful at
the
same time.

Biography
Darren Hayes
The Tension and The Spark


As he recorded the vocals for his new solo album, The Tension and The
Spark
, in a home studio in San Francisco, singer/songwriter Darren Hayes,
who
sold millions of records worldwide between 1997-2001 as one-half of
the
multi-platinum duo Savage Garden, began to appreciate the irony of the
phrase "pop will eat itself." It was a sweltering California day in
June
2003 and Darren felt a d?j? vu evoking the humble beginnings of his
recording career in Australia some eight years prior.

During the summer of 1995, in the spare bedroom of producer Charles
Fisher's home in Sydney, Hayes was creating the astonishing vocal
tracks
for "Truly Madly Deeply," a classic song that would go on to hit the
#1
spot on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1998 and change Darren's life
forever. By
the time "I Knew I Loved You," from the second Savage Garden album,
Affirmation, took its own place at the top of the Hot 100, the group's
eponymous debut album and subsequent sophomore release were well on
their
way to generating sales of more than 20 million albums around the
world. To
this day, "Truly Madly Deeply" and "I Knew I Loved You" still hold the
records as the #1 and #2 longest running songs to sit atop the
Billboard
Adult Contemporary chart.

By late 2003, with one successful solo pop album (2002's Spin) to his
credit, Darren Hayes was reassessing his artistic goals. Having
created an
already enduring pop music legacy, Hayes felt ready to expand his
musical
palette, developing new sounds while intensifying the range of his
musical
and lyrical sensibility. He was, in effect, beginning anew, ready and
anxious to follow his muses into bold and adventurous new territory.

Most of The Tension and The Spark was recorded, quite literally, in a
bedroom (albeit a bedroom with state-of-the-art recording equipment).
Hayes
had decided to record his new album at home, under the radar, in
order to
fully explore, and enjoy, a level of artistic freedom he'd never
granted
himself previously. Keeping a low profile, Darren Hayes wrote and
recorded
a collection of songs bristling with candor, urgency, and
authenticity.

For his new solo album, Darren worked with a team of cutting edge
producers
of a caliber seldom associated with the pop mainstream: Mark "Spike"
Stent
(Bj?rk, Massive Attack, Depeche Mode, Madonna), Marius De Vries
(Bj?rk,
Madonna's Ray Of Light, The Moulin Rouge) and Robert Conley a relative
newcomer, but maverick master of the contemporary electronic world.

Bravely pointing towards a new musical future, The Tension and The
Spark
crackles with 21st century experimental electronica -- with Darren's
deeply
confessional and often confrontational lyrics poured across an
atmospheric
soundscape.

While Spin, Darren's first solo album, racked up close to two million
sales
and produced four singles, most noticeably the soul-drenched romantic
ballad "Insatiable," and subsequent theatre shows all over the world,
it is
on The Tension and The Spark that Darren Hayes comes fully into his
own as
an artist.

Hayes was feeling inspired by all kinds of new music. "I'd been
getting
into French bands like Phoenix and Rhinoceros as well as Bj?rk, Air,
Goldfrappe and the Chemical Brothers," he recalls. "I was listening to
music that was to me so much more textured and interesting than
anything I
was hearing on current Top 40 radio."

Working, almost accidentally at first, with friend and hardcore
underground
electronic artist Robert Conley (www.specificus.com), Hayes began the
process of writing new music without really realizing it. During a
stay at
Hayes' San Francisco waterside home, Conley was constantly working on
new
tracks for himself in the spare bedroom. "He would be tinkering away
on the
keyboard," Darren recalls, "and although I had told anyone who would
listen
that I was not interested in writing or making an album, every time I
walked past his room I found myself singing along to his tracks."

What began as a few unselfconscious "collaborations" between Hayes and
Conley soon became seven tracks, then twelve. Before long, Conley
began
recording Hayes' own self-penned songs, which were the first Darren
had
ever written completely alone. Suddenly, an album was emerging and
Darren
Hayes no longer wanted to keep it entirely under-wraps.

While still creating his new sounds on the down low, Hayes took a
trip to
London to work with Marius DeVries and to woo legendary mix engineer
Mark
"Spike" Stent. At first, the generally hard-to-impress "Spike" was
difficult to pin down. "I had passed on working with him on Spin",
Spike
recalls. "So when it came to this record, he called me up -- and he
is a
bit of a persistent bugger, which is one of the things I like about
him --
and I told him to come down and see me." After listening to three of
Darren's new songs, Stent was hooked. "Darren had actually moved
forward
musically -- a lot -- and he was being brave about what he was doing
and
trying new ideas. I like that, and because of that, I wanted to work
with
him."

Apart from the album's obvious sonic departure from Darren's earlier
work
(comparisons have been made to music ranging from Depeche Mode to
David
Bowie), what stands out most on The Tension and The Spark is the
record's
psychologically complex and deeply personal subject matter. "It's an
album
that describes a personal journey from darkness into light," Darren
explains. "From blame to forgiveness and, finally, to the acceptance
that
everything, even misery, happens for a reason. And at the end of the
day,
there is a light at the end of the tunnel."

When Hayes keens, with startling honesty, "You made me feel like my
father
never loved me," from the unguarded open wound that is "Unlovable,"
you
know there has been a changing of the guard in Darren's muse-grid. The
album's level of heart-wrenching vulnerability continues in "Dublin
Sky,"
where Hayes plaintively questions the universe, "How many dreams have
I
left deserted? How many hopes have been diverted?" In the album's
opening
cut, "Darkness," Hayes ascertains, with penetrating acuity, that
sometimes
our greatest fear is the act of becoming the very thing we fear most.
When
he sings, "You discover the monster you've been running from is the
monster
in you," you not only believe him, you feel an undeniable
identification
with him in your core. For The Tension and The Spark is nothing more,
nor
less, than a manifestation of the human condition itself.

For all its unflinching honesty, The Tension and The Spark is hardly
all
doom and gloom. The album serves as Hayes's own personal reminder
that,
regardless of the demons of his childhood or the mishaps in his
personal
relationships, happiness is something that can zero in on your
consciousness without you realizing it. In "Light," he sings (as if
to God,
or an unnamable higher power), "I have been cold I have been blind.
You
have come to change my mind. I can put my faith in you."

"This record is my story," Darren muses, "but it's also a human story
that
I think most people can relate to. Eventually, I came to realize
that, even
for my own Morrissey-like confessionals, life is meant to be a
rollercoaster. My best friend became pregnant while I was making this
record and I was reminded every day that with every sadness comes
joy, with
every death, there is a re-birth. For me, the album symbolizes both
the end
of something terribly beautiful and the beginning of something
wonderful in
an entirely different way. I'm terrified but I'm ready for the change.
Evolve or dissolve. Or to paraphrase Rumi, the great Sufi poet, 'Our
bodies
are a guesthouse. We should welcome all visitors, even misery, with a
smile. For even though they may bring about the destruction of your
home,
they clear the way for new visitors, like love and joy.'"

And love and joy, as well as the emotional truths and complexities
that
accompany them, are the guiding lights ignited on The Tension and The
Spark
.

# # # # #

www.darrenhayes.com


Darren Hayes
The Tension and The Spark
Track Listing

1. DARKNESS
Written and Produced by Darren Hayes and Robert Conley

2. I LIKE THE WAY
Written and Produced by Darren Hayes and Robert Conley

3. LIGHT
Written and Produced by Darren Hayes and Robert Conley

4. POPULAR
Written and Produced by Darren Hayes and Robert Conley

5. DUBLIN SKY
Written by Darren Hayes
Produced by Darren Hayes and Robert Conley

6. HERO
Written and Produced by Darren Hayes and Robert Conley

7. UNLOVABLE
Written and Produced by Darren Hayes and Robert Conley

8. VOID
Written by Darren Hayes
Produced by Darren Hayes and Robert Conley

9. I FORGIVE YOU
Written and Produced by Darren Hayes and Marius de Vries

10. FEEL
Written by Darren Hayes
Produced by Darren Hayes and Robert Conley

11. LOVE AND ATTRACTION
Written and Produced by Darren Hayes and Robert Conley

12. SENSE OF HUMOR
Written and Produced by Darren Hayes and Robert Conley

13. EGO
Written and Produced by Darren Hayes and Robert Conley

*** All tracks mixed by Mark 'Spike' Stent ***

<font color="#9966FF"><font size="1">[ September 10, 2004 05:23 AM: Message edited by: DarrensPassion ]</font></font>

<font color="#9966FF" size="1">[ September 10, 2004 09:25 AM: Message edited by: DarrensPassion ]</font>