My crown prince of pop Darren Hayes is back and really, I should’ve come prepared by immersing myself in his back catalogue in the week leading up to this.

The Australian singer/songwriter turns out a breezy pop piece in ‘Talk Talk Talk’, his first single back with a major label and in fact, first solo material since his 2007 concept album This Delicate Thing We’ve Made.

It really sounds like a commercially viable marriage of Darren‘s foray into electronica and the radio friendly pop of his Savage Garden years. ‘Talk Talk Talk’ is a gorgeous message song about love and relationships, and if anything, it probably serves as a proper lyrical representation of the album’s themes.

Speaking of relationships, Dazza’s hubby Richard Cullen wrote and directed this video with animator/film makers Andrew Philip and Gavin Elder. It’s a gorgeous romantic [Editor's note: the era not the mushy stuff] influenced video built on layers of animation, creating the illusion of an unfolding collage.

Here are three rather nice bits of the video:

1) The thinking gay’s pop pin-up.

Dazza always turns up looking sharp and yet oh-so-scruffy casual in his suits and smart jackets. Subtlety has always been the look, except that Spin era where he wore a purple see-through shirt and other slightly cringe attire. But then again, weren’t we all back in the day? Weren’t we all.

2) I’m not finished with his appearance.

Forgive me, it’s been a while since we saw Darren properly. I am the worst at keeping in touch via his video diaries so please, just let me gush about how good he looks. [Editor's note: go!] A touch of Jude Law! Never looked trimmer! And married life suits him very well. There!

3) Video concept.

The presser said that the video is inspired by the album artwork. And I mean, we know Darren to be a very meticulous and visual artist. Just refer to everything done in the This Delicate Thing We’ve Made era. However, I wonder if this will foreshadow a theme to come with future videos. Will they all be collage-like and full of eye-popping animated wonders like this? Will they all contain vintage and geeky objects and references? The decor is frankly everything I imagine would inspire me when I’m 45, happily married and am looking for ideas to decorate my Parisian studio apartment.

Footnotes:

Darren Hayes‘ ‘Talk Talk Talk’ single is released digitally everywhere today. The forthcoming fourth studio album Secret Codes and Battleships will arrive in October.