Darren Hayes is best known for his time as Savage Garden‘s frontman from 1993 to 2001. But when the group abruptly dissolved, he continued his career as a solo singer. Although Savage Garden was a total blast and their popularity rocketed beyond their own expectations, Darren didn’t quite benefit from it. He chose a different musical path and that was a clear departure from Savage Garden’s sound. The lyrics and vocal style didn’t change, but Darren went frenzy with electronic sounds that were too far from the poppy rock his fans were used to.

He published a few albums with major labels, but then in 2007 he made something bold, and in my opinion, the best work of his life. He self-produced an album called “This delicate thing we’ve made”. As a follower of his work, I myself didn’t know he was working on it till it was published, and even then it took some time for me to find out there was new material. I was totally blown away by this whole album, but if I have to choose one song, this is it: “Step into the light”. There’s something magic about it, poignant, deep… It’s not necessarily the lyrics, although maybe that too. It’s the whole composition, the vibe, Darren’s voice, a bit of everything. It’s not the deepest track in the album at all, but the song really lingered on me and I still have it on my playlist.

The album didn’t do too well, unfortunately, and there were comparisons with Madonna or Kate Bush. Who cares, I loved it! And I loved it even more after reading the journey to create it (read the story here), and the old vintage hardware/software used to produce it.

Anyway, here it is, my favourite piece. Let me know what you think!