Hotel Surrender

Four years after laying his Chet Faker project to rest and releasing music as Nick Murphy, the New York-based Australian singer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist has returned to his original moniker. Dialing back the more far-flung turns of 2014’s Built on Glass and his subsequent work under his given name, Hotel Surrender concentrates on the sweet spot that made him a star in the first place. These are quiet, confiding earworms that never feel overcrowded, letting us appreciate each individual element as it slots into place. His intimate vocals and close-knit grooves emanate from the very top of the 10-track album, starting with the slow-mo mantra of opener “Oh Me Oh My.” “Low” reintroduces his homespun R&B, embellished with guitar and purring bass, while the rousing motivational session “Feel Good” harks back to the soulful simplicity of his “No Diggity”-era breakthrough a decade earlier. Though Murphy has played piano a particular way for most of his life, “Get High” marks the first time he’s ever incorporated a groove he’s described as “drunken funk swing” into his own music. The song is woozy and warm, with his piano work sitting perfectly atop a familiar drum snap. It’s a surprising moment on Hotel Surrender, and one which proves exactly why Murphy felt he had more to give as Chet Faker.