Chet Faker releases“Built On Glass”

by Max Jones

Don’t be fooled by the title of Chet Faker’s latest album, Built On Glass, because unlike a glass floor, these 12 songs are solid.

The mood music is established from the first track, where he invites the listener to literally “Release [their] Problems”, before laying down his trademark sleepy and seductive vocals. Backed by off-tempo drumbeats and pared-down keys, this is the perfect album for a wide variety of things: staring out the window on a rainy day, drinking a Corona on a beach or spending all day in bed with a special someone.

With only one guest on the album, Kilo Kish on “Melt”, (and melt you will) Faker’s album maintains a consistent vibe of a disaffected, modern jazz output. He never overdoes it by trying to blow the speakers out with his voice, although one gets the sense that he could if he wanted to. Instead, he makes it look easy by playing it cool and the entire album seems that much cooler for it. This culminates with the perfect mix of his voice with the backing track on “1998.” The beat is little more than a snare drum with some synth notes, but when Faker asks the listener to “Take my good word / turn it backwards / turn your back on me”, the groove simply won’t let them do it.

With his tour set to reach North America in the upcoming months, this Australian songwriter will be expanding his fan base with each passing event. That base is sizable already though, due in part to his cover of “No Diggity” which is currently creeping towards 2 million YouTube hits. The perfect place to catch Chet and his bandmates would be in a smaller venue with good sound, because clarity and quality are clearly important to them. These songs were made to be listened to and appreciated, even if they were built on glass.

Release date April 15, 2014 | iTunes preorder

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boK6zgNPSx8