Built On Glass - Chet Faker - Album Review

Bearded musical legend Chet Faker has grown to be one of our favourite artists over the last couple of years, making noise with his cover of Backstreet’s No Diggity and his debut EP Thinking in Textures released way back in 2012. He's also played sets at some of our favourite festivals and teamed up his mate Flume a couple of times.

Despite his impressive nature, Chet Faker hasn't actually released a lot of material, his highly anticipated debut Built on Glass, quenched a long lasting thirst. His much-awaited debut gives us a valuable insight into what Chet Faker is all about. The album has a tasteful mix of R’n’B and Jazzy influences and a touch of that electronic vibe our home grown artists do so well. Chet sings over mellow pianos, clean guitars and spectacular saxophones, each complementing the other. The evocative lyrics top it off tying together so well, it’s a unified sound, a sound that keeps you coming back for more. The eleven-track masterpiece has two sides split down the middle in a really cool way in "/" when a voice over the distinct crackles of vinyl declares "This is the other side of the record … now relax still more and drift a little deeper as you listen.” The first side compromises of slower, mellower tracks and really shows the vocal skill of the man in question. It kicks off with Release Your Problems, escalates into Talk is Cheap and beyond until the climax To Me. The second part of the album has a more upbeat feel to it with tracks like current single 1998, Blush and Cigarettes and Loneliness rounding it all up with Dead Body, a culmination of all the elements on the record, and one can’t forget the sweet bluesy solo!

It’s really hard though to give you stand out track from Built on Glass; each and every track has something to give. Chet Faker has once again reaffirmed his place in our hearts. Built on Glass is an album that will capture the musical world by storm. We can only sit back and watch as the rest of the world fall in love with each and every chorus on this album, just as we have done with all of his earlier stuff. You can grab a copy of Built on Glass now and if you’re lucky enough catch Chet Faker playing an all-ages headline show in Sydney at the Enmore Theatre on Friday the 27th of June with Yumi Zouma!

Built on Glass scores 4.5/5 and two big thumbs up!

Review by James Macdonald

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