Darren Hayman - Darren Hayman And The Secondary Modern

by Tom Mendelsohn

Of secondary importance

"Maybe it’s because he’s got older, maybe it’s because he’s got married, or maybe it’s because he’s got a bit crap, but he hasn’t quite managed to write anything with his normal emotional punch."

Darren Hayman, formerly of Hefner, is something of a personal hero of ours. There are few to match his way with a lyric; what he writes is always just so true. His songs are always about girls – Christ knows how he’s managed to squeeze that much heartbreak innto his existence, but he has – and at his best, he really nails it.

To launch in bluntly, this isn’t his best. Maybe it’s because he’s got older, maybe it’s because he’s got married, or maybe it’s because he’s got a bit crap, but he hasn’t quite managed to write anything with his normal emotional punch. He seems instead to be pre-occupying himself on this, his second solo album, with grown-up stuff like proposals and domestic rows and cohabitation. None of it has the same impact and there isn’t much in the music to make up for the lapse, what with it’s all being gentle, mid-tempo indie-rock of fairly generic aspect. Sometimes Darren whips out a banjo, which helps proceedings in no way.

The terrified part of NN (ie the part which enters its mid-twenties tomorrow, ie all of it) reckons that this will all make sense come 30, but until then, this album will have to remain obscure in meaning.

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