Hotel Surrender CD

Having previously decided to ditch the Chet Faker moniker for a couple of subsequently low-key albums, including last year's digital-only ambient excursion, Musical Silence, Nick Murphy has finally decided to resurrect it. In the process, the Australian artist has gone back to basics, with Hotel Surrender sounding far more like his much-loved 2014 debut, Built on Glass - a massive hit in his home country - then anything else he's recorded since. It was a smart move, because Murphy does synth-heavy, electronica-tinged pop far better than most. As a result, the album is full of confirmed earworms, from the blue-eyed soul of 'Oh Me, Oh My' and the string-drenched swell of 'Whatever Tomorrow', to the flash-friend funk-pop of 'Feel Good' and the Rhodes-clad R&B-soul of 'In Too Deep'.