On the first album in 4 years, Chet Faker returns with a strikingly romantic new record. The Australian singer-songwriter Nick Murphy has been releasing music under a few names during his career and his soulful vocals are front and center once again on this project, as he sings about a new phase of his life. His work as Chet Faker has been characterized by Murphy’s clever production and reliable strong vocals. This creativity and range shines through on the new record, which features saxophone melodies, strings crescendoes and piano-backed beats.

“Far Side of the Moon”, the first single released back in July of 2025, has a distinctly sweet outlook that sets the tone for this new body of work from Chet Faker. Murphy’s sound is noticeably more smooth and controlled here, contrasting the grittiness of his past records. He blends genres of electronic and R&B into a unique sound that is signature to Chet Faker, creating another record that is both referential of past musical eras and decidedly modern. Murphy has always been masterful in this electronic component of his sound from the beginning of his career, and makes the natural transition to breakbeat-driven pop-rock tracks in this current time when so many artists are being inspired by the revival of dance pop.

One of the first singles and stand-out tracks from the album is the endlessly catchy “This Time For Real”. The song leans on the romance of sweeping piano melodies at times with Bon Iver-esque distorted background vocals contrasting the robustness of Murphy’s singing. The Chet Faker sound has matured since his debut over ten years ago, but Murphy is clearly still turning his wheels on songwriting and producing, experimenting with new ideas in each project.

The variety on this record also shows off his range of tones, including a handful of more raw and earnest tracks in the middle of the album. The emotional beats in piano tracks like Can You Swim? and Remember Me are reminiscent of the sweet vulnerability of early 2000s Coldplay. On the more stripped down Inefficient Love, and Just my Hallelujah Murphy sings of struggles with heartbreak, the latter of which ends the album on a note of hopefulness and faith looking towards the future. Murphy’s vocals have always invoked a type of soulful spirituality, and on this new record he seems to be more in touch with that hopeful side of himself than ever before.

Pre-order A Love for Strangers by Chet Faker HERE