All Pop - Artists

By LISA WILTON
Calgary Sun

Darren Hayes wants his music to be uplifting.

But the 28-year-old lead singer of Aussie pop duo Savage Garden admits the group's latest effort, Affirmation, isn't all sunshine and roses.

"There's a kind of sadness on the album," says Hayes, who wrote most of the album while living in New York City.

He moved to the Big Apple after splitting with his wife of six years.

"I was single for the first time since I was 17 and I was away from my family and a lot of the safety of familiarity.

"I wanted to be in an environment where I wasn't famous.

"And I wasn't famous in Manhattan. No one knew who I was. I lived in complete anonymity and wrote this very personal record."

Affirmation is an unlikely combination of optimism and melancholy, where upbeat pop tunes and iridescent, sometimes sullen, balladry harmoniously co-exist.

"The minute I finished writing it, I got the hell out of there," says Hayes, who shared ideas for the album with musical co-conspirator Daniel Jones -- who remained in Australia -- by e-mailing and phoning each other regularly.

While Hayes enjoyed the energy and creative inspiration that New York offered, it was a lonely, brittle place to reside.

"I didn't find a lot of sympathy or beauty there, but there's a lot of energy," recalls Hayes, who formed Savage Garden with Jones in Brisbane nine years ago.

The group plays the Saddledome on Tuesday night with special guest Kina.

Despite wanting to leave New York for greener -- and friendlier -- pastures, Hayes decided to stay in Manhattan until one day it finally became too much.

"(My best friend and I) had tried to catch the subway train, it was stinking hot, it was sweaty.

"People were yelling at each other in the streets. We turned around and saw this woman on the phone slamming the receiver and screaming at the person on the other end ...

"Then this homeless guy bumped into this woman eating a doughnut and -- I'll never forget this -- she started screaming and swearing at him: 'Give me $2 for my doughnut! You just made me drop my doughnut!'

"My friend and I looked at each other and said, 'Let's get the hell out of here.' "

Based in San Francisco for the past year, Hayes says he is in a much better head space than he was a few years ago.

It may have something to do with the relative success of Affirmation, which has sold about seven million worldwide in less than a year.

Though their last album is now up around the 11-million mark, Hayes says he does not compare the two anymore.

"The biggest relief was just the success of (the romantic ballad second single) I Knew I Loved You in North America," he says.

"When we had a U.S. number one with that, it was a big deal because that was our second ... and it's a ripple effect. It spreads across the world and people take you a bit more seriously.

"It doesn't matter if (Affirmation) sells the same ... If you're competing only with yourself, what am I going to do? Cry into my wallet?"

No Affirmation for Savage Garden