There are not few albums made from a broken heart. Ever since the world began, relationship endings have been creative – and painful – fuel for album composition; some of them have passed through here (Sea changesby Beck e Loud planes fly low, from the former couple Rosebuds for example), and if 1999 saw Damon Albarn discover Justine Frischmann’s betrayal through a bite in the ass (ui) given by Brett Anderson and thus write the songs of 13also saw Darren Hayman turn his heartache into Hefner’s second record, The fidelity wars.
And this is perhaps the first case in which a work made at such a fucked-up moment has lifted its creator to higher flights than he had experienced until then. Because with this album, Hefner left the indie ghettos – where he was already well known – and took them to the top of the independent rock charts at the time and to the praise of specialized critics (not that that REALLY means anything), introducing common themes to those who already experienced this delicate situation (the ‘hymns’ to cigarettes and alcohol) and helping the ship of the unfortunate to sink once and for all with songs like “The weight of the stars” and “I love you only”, which ends the album with the right to a certain acid humor that runs through it and some off-the-curve scratches very well placed in the story told by Hayman.
Hayman, who actually moved on after the end of Hefner and is still active today (his last album is from last year), proving that he has overcome the breakup with the former band. Now, you’ve surpassed
the broken heart that made him write The fidelity warswe will never know.
PS: The album version linked below is packed with extras to extend the heartbreak as much as possible.
Source: https://pequenosclassicosperdidos.com.br/2023/04/28/hefner-the-fidelity-wars-1999/
