Reviewed: Chet Faker's Built on Glass
Australian electronica at its best
Whether or not you believe that the ‘Australian Sound’ of electronic music is effected by being geographically isolated, it’s hard to ignore artists such as Flume and Ta-ku who are hitting it big on the international stage. Joining them there is Nick Murphy, aka Chet Faker.
Chet rose from the blogosphere in 2011, with his cover of Blackstreet’s ‘No Diggity’. Since then, Chet has released several collaborations with aforementioned countrymen and the widely acclaimed EP ‘Thinking in Textures’.
Chet’s much-anticipated debut, ‘Built on Glass’, develops the crooning beats of Textures. It’s an album fuelled by soulful vocals and a recurring homage to jazz. Chet’s trademark electronica is coupled with pop-infused lyrics and lines of saxophone, resulting in a considered, personal work that shows his creative progression over the last two years.
Separated into two ‘sides’, the first half of the album is filled with the R&B-esque pop hits that has identified Chet thus far. The standouts, Talk is Cheap and To Me, include Chet’s self-professed ‘crappy sax’ lines, yet they work well with the solid beats and layering of sounds that build nicely throughout each track.
The inclusion of the 2013 track Melt (featuring Kilo Kish) was a surprising addition to the album. It signposts Chet’s musical development over the past year, especially in comparison to the more developed tracks of ‘side two’. The soulful Gold is a vocal standout. It builds on the low-fi sounds from past tracks such as I’m Into You, while achieving a greater range and vocal diversity.
‘Side two’ is where Built on Glass gets really interesting. Decidedly more restrained, the album’s second half pursues the kind of deconstructed pop and melancholy similar to James Blake’s Overgrown.
In Blush, exceptional, atmospheric vocals and piano open the track, then followed by complex arrangements of haunting piano and subsonic bass. Ominously moving together into the foreground, these elements reflect waves of regret and perhaps Chet’s own heartbreak.
What do you think about the future of Australian electronica on a global scale?
Cigarettes & Loneliness is a winner, striking the perfect balance of R&B lyricism with a satisfying layering of sounds, the repetitive bass and guitar climaxing with an atmospheric ensemble of vocals and quivering bells. Built on Glass proves to be a diverse debut, signifying the promise of a truly talented artist.
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