[.ca] Breaking Gods Heart

completely original...:
Darren Hayman's vocals are amazing and the lyrics are beautiful

Uneven, to be sure:
This collection of songs will never be voted Best Album of All Time. There are probably more bad songs than good, depending on your perspective. Tracks like "Sad Witch" and "A Hymn for the Postal Service" are so awful that to someone else, they might just be genius. But there's no arguing the merits of a song like "Love Inside the Stud Farm"; it's just good all over. And anyone's pennies are worth spending on one of the best songs ever recorded, "God is on my Side". This album deserves a spot in your collection for this one track. Perhaps, in a few years, Hefner will have enough gems of this quality to put together a solid full-length album. In the meantime, Hefner at their best is not to be missed.

Darren's Influences:
Hey Darren ! Are you sure you never heard "Lee Remick" by the Go-Betweens before you wrote "Lee Remick" ? No ... look me in the eyes and deny it ... It's really nothing to be ashamed of you know , you could do a lot worse. PS. "Hello kitten" made me laugh. Keep up the good work. Very refreshing stuff.

Darren Haymen's sad sad love life...:
Think of the whiny rock of the wedding present mixed with over the top sentimentalilty of belle and sebastian (er... perhaps not quite accurate, for at least belle and sebastian have a more credible intellectual edge). Hefner is, at its best, ednearing and honest. At their worst, they are whiny and repetitve. But for the most part, Darren Haymen seems to have truly been wronged in romance-- enough to fill two full length records. This is the better of the two, perhaps only because it is slightly less polished then their latter effort, the fidelity wars. I'm a huge fan of this album, and the band for that matter, but I realize that this is not a 5 star offering. The music is enjoyable. The singing is heartfelt. This album is best described as a love story, told by a teenage boy. Included is embarrassment, innocence, melodrama, and truth.

A Hymn to the Hefner Album:
My mum & dad listen to this album in their Vauxhall Astra on their way to the supermarket. We sing along to it at 5 in the morning on upside down guitars. On "The Sweetness Lies Within", I thought "Treasure time that was spent with me" was "Chocolate time that was spent with me." But that's besides the point. Smithsian, good. Cheers you up. Romantic and true.

• Sweetness Lies Within
• Sad Witch
• Hymn for the Postal Service
• Love Will Destroy Us in the End
• Librarian
• God Is on My Side
• Another Better Friend
• Love Inside the Stud Farm
• Tactile
• Eloping