Savage Garden is one of those maddening pop bands that you don't want to like on
principle but whose craft is strong enough to get under your skin at least a little. The
songs on its sophomore album are as smoothly melodic and slickly produced as
anything from its 11-million selling 1997 debut, with sugary arrangements, layers of
guitars that ring and chime, lush washes of synthesizers, and vocal harmonies. And you
wind up walking away with the choruses to the best tunes — "Crash & Burn," "Chained
to You," "The Best Thing" — unwittingly embedded in your head.
The Down Under duo (Darren Hayes and Daniel Jones) does deserve credit for a
meatier emotional palette on Affirmation, at least. Unlike the peppy pop of its predecessor, there's an aura
of melancholy across these dozen songs, partially due to the breakup of Hayes' longtime relationship and his
decision to relocate to New York City to write the songs. The sparse and affecting "Two Beds & a Coffee
Machine" reflects on spousal abuse ("Another bruise to try and hide/ Another alibi to write"), while "The
Lover After Me" and "I Don't Know You Anymore" examine lost love from relatively fresh angles.
There's still a kind of retro anonymity to this stuff; Affirmation could easily be the latest album from Mr.
Mister or any number of '80s heroes, particularly on the title track, which is a made-for-aerobics-class
laundry list of personal affirmations such as "I believe the sun should never set upon an argument" and "I
believe the struggle for financial freedom is unfair/ I believe the only ones who disagree are millionaires." Sez,
um, the millionaires. But on Affirmation, Savage Garden at least demonstrates some ambition to grow; so
while it's still ear candy, it's more Snickers bar than cotton candy.
