Tuesday, October 04, 2011 1:32 PM

A sneak peek of every track of the new album 'Secret Codes And Battle Ships' out Oct 21. Pre-order here: http://www.darrenhayes.com/other/secret_codes_and_battleships

"At the age of six, I knew I wanted to be famous more than anything. At the age of 23 I was a star, but I saw through the facade pretty quickly. Now, I'm my late-thirties and I still know I was born to do this. And I know too that this new album, Secret Codes And Battleships is, beyond any doubt, right up there with the best I can do. I'm back at my fighting weight."

After two phenomenally successful albums with Savage Garden, three pioneering solo albums and 26 million sales, Secret Codes And Battleships is singer-songwriter Darren Hayes's first proudly mainstream pop album in four years and it might just be the best of his career. "It feels like I've woken up from a coma," he chuckles.

Secret Codes And Battleships was recorded in Stockholm, Los Angeles, Sydney and Darren's home studio in London. He's collaborated with Swedish writer/producer Carl Falk (Nicole Sherzinger/The Wanted); writers Steve Robson (Taylor Swift/Leona Lewis) and Phil Thornalley (Pixie Lott/Natalie Imbruglia), plus Australia-based, long-term collaborators Justin Shave (Fatboy Slim) and Robert Conley (Amy Meredith). There are reunions with both the multi Grammy Award winning maestro Walter Afanasieff, who produced Savage Garden's Affirmation album and Darren's Spin and Rex Goh, Savage Garden's long-term guitarist. The album was mixed by Robert Orton (Lady Gaga) and mastered by Bob Ludwig. 

On one level, as Darren says, it's about "holding on to love as everyone around you is breaking up. I've found somebody who completely gets me: I never thought that would happen". The string-laden (courtesy of Mattias Bylund, whose father arranged Abba's records) first single Talk Talk Talk, Don't Give Up and Hurt tingle spines, touch hearts and tighten stomachs with the melodic flair and searing honesty that is Darren's calling card. And he's never done it better.

On another level, it's about the things we don't say to each other, the secret codes of the title. It's an album packed with seafaring imagery (Darren's alcoholic father was a merchant seaman) and it's a deeply personal journey from despair ("I'd forgotten how to dream," he admits) to hope. As with all journeys, there's a beginning, a middle and an end. 

Bloodstained Heart concerns the "worst day of the worst month of the worst year, but it says I will pick up your pulsing, bloodstained heart from the gutter and we will get through this, together", while Cruel Cruel World stems from a time "I was in LA feeling so lost and disjointed I just wanted to crawl home". It's a special record from a special songwriter.

There'll be intimate gigs in Britain and the US this year and a more extensive, more expansive world tour in 2012, with sets designed by Darren's long-term collaborator, Willie Williams. And now, the man who lives with his husband and their dog, who still adores Star Wars (and he auditioned for Attack Of The Clones, but that's another story) and who cooks the meanest boeuf bourguignon you've never tasted wants the world again.

"I want to know if I've still got it," he insists. "I'm so tired of people asking me if I still make albums. I look at people I admire such as Kate Bush and Peter Gabriel and I want to emulate their longevity. I'm not made for making records that are secret: I'm not very good at that. But I am good at playing for thousands of people and I am good at saying things we all have in common. It's easy to pretend you don't care and you don't want to write more songs for a generation. I do care, I do want that and I do know I'm not done yet."