Table For One

If the name Darren Hayman sounds at all familiar, it's because he was the lead singer and main songwriter of the short-lived U.K. art pop trio Hefner, whose music was simply too arch and ironic for more than a small but vociferous cult following. Table for One comes a full half-decade after Hefner's swan song, 2001's Dead Media, but it's in every way a direct follow-up to that album. Continuing with the mix of wheezy, elderly sounding synths, clunky rhythm boxes, and somewhat mannered, theatrical vocals that dominated Dead Media, Table for One leavens the sound with catchier tunes (the opening "Caravan Song" recalls early, Susan Anway-era Magnetic Fields) and a generally less hostile lyrical disposition. The results often bear an astonishing resemblance to Destroyer, the Hunky Dory-influenced art rock band led by the New Pornographers' Dan Bejar, with a little vintage Belle & Sebastian mopery thrown in on songs like "The National Canine Defense League." The album's conceptual masterpiece, however, is "Doug Yule's Velvet Underground," a song Hayman sings in first person as the oft-derided Yule, defending his decision to continue the band after the departure of the original members; it's an oddly effective, emotional song about a bizarre, unexpected subject. Indeed, just like most of Hefner's best work. ~ Stewart Mason|