walking upstream…
Chet Faker
photo: eva rinaldi · cc by-sa 2.0 ↗Chet Faker
Nick Murphy, who records as Chet Faker, is a Melbourne singer, songwriter and producer who built his early reputation alone in a garage, looping a Rhodes-style electric piano under a deep, breathy falsetto learned from soul and neo-soul records. He took his stage name as a direct homage to the jazz trumpeter and singer Chet Baker, whose intimate, unguarded vocal delivery he has cited as a specific inspiration for his own singing. A viral 2011 cover of Blackstreet's 'No Diggity' and 2014's platinum, ARIA-topping debut album 'Built on Glass' — anchored by the Hottest 100-winning 'Talk Is Cheap' — made him one of Australia's defining voices in electronic soul.
the sound in question
2014
Talk Is CheapChet Faker
walk the tributaries ↓
Chet Baker1950s · Cool jazz / West Coast jazz / Vocal jazz
Murphy took his stage name directly from the jazz trumpeter and singer Chet Baker, and has said what drew him in was Baker's 'really fragile vocal style — this really, broken, close-up and intimate style' on records like 'Chet Baker Sings.' That hushed, unguarded, almost-whispered vocal delivery is the throughline of Chet Faker's own singing, nowhere clearer than on the stripped-back '1998.'
listen: upstream & heresource: Wikipedia — Chet Faker (Chet Baker namesake quote on 'fragile... broken, close-up and intimate' vocal style; mother's Motown records; biography) ↗
1954
My Funny ValentineChet Baker
2014
1998Chet Faker
listen forPlay Chet Baker's vocal take on 'My Funny Valentine' — thin, unguarded, seemingly recorded inches from the mic — then Chet Faker's '1998.' Listen for the same fragility: a voice that sounds like it could crack at any moment, kept close and dry rather than polished.
D'Angelo2000s · Neo-Soul / R&B / Funk
Murphy has described his early, garage-recorded material as coming out of listening to 'Jai Paul and Suff Daddy, Miles Bonny and D'Angelo' on repeat, and has spoken with plain admiration about D'Angelo's live artistry. The neo-soul hallmark — an unhurried, behind-the-beat vocal draped over a spare, bass-heavy groove — is the backbone of Chet Faker's own sound.
listen: upstream & heresource: Vice — The Rise and Rise of Chet Faker, Beat Maker (Jai Paul, Suff Daddy, Miles Bonny, D'Angelo quote) ↗
2000
Untitled (How Does It Feel)D'Angelo
2014
Talk Is CheapChet Faker
listen forPlay D'Angelo's 'Untitled (How Does It Feel)' — an elastic, unhurried falsetto sitting just behind a stripped-down groove — then Chet Faker's 'Talk Is Cheap.' Listen for the same trick: vocals that seem to land a half-beat late, floating over a bassline doing most of the song's work.
Marvin Gaye1970s · Soul / R&B
Murphy grew up on his mother's Motown records, and that classic soul foundation sits underneath the breathier, electronic version of soul Chet Faker makes — 'Gold' in particular leans on the same warm, pleading falsetto that Marvin Gaye built ballads like 'Let's Get It On' around.
listen: upstream & here
1973
Let's Get It OnMarvin Gaye
2014
GoldChet Faker
listen forPlay Marvin Gaye's 'Let's Get It On' — a warm, close-harmonied falsetto riding over a slow-building groove — then Chet Faker's 'Gold.' Listen for the same intimate, bedroom-soul register: a vulnerable falsetto out front, with everything else kept hushed underneath it.