Fazerdaze, aka New Zealand’s Amelia Murray, has already accomplished so much even before releasing her debut record, a testament to how her music has already captivated audiences. She’s been praised by NME, played with Unknown Mortal Orchestra and Connan Mockasin, and was invited to join the Red Bull Music Academy in Montreal in 2016. In May, she’s taking her band to the UK to play The Great Escape Festival. Before that, Murray will release Morningside, her first full-length record and the most complete document of her intricate songwriting to date.
Named after the New Zealand suburb where Murray finally feels at home, Morningside plots its course carefully through the rocky terrain of finding place and peace in personal growth. Growing pains are central to Morningside and Murray’s meditations on the concurrent exhilaration and intimidation of an older kind of life and love never feel cloying. Instead, on every track, Murray builds an intimate relationship with the listener. Each song is personal, but never isolating. The album is like reading someone’s journal with their express permission: at turns it seems full of the most universal of feelings, as well as the kind of sensory and narrative details that make for the truest kind of memoir.
Murray perfects a humble light and shade with each song on Morningside: opening track 'Last To Sleep' conveys that subtle kind of fear that comes with handing one’s feelings over to another. 'Jennifer', the only song that carries over from the debut Fazerdaze EP is a song about teenage friendship. 'Half-Figured' heaves with a self-effacing angst, and 'Shoulders' is a whisper of relief, a love song for someone sleeping; And on 'Bedroom Talks', it’s about the safety of comfort, being able to speak candidly and truthfully when one feels at home, when only the right person is listening. It’s a feeling of absolute ease, of the purest kind of communication.
Morningside will be released on May 5 through vaunted New Zealand label Flying Nun. Flying Nun has been the home for three decades of heartfelt, literate records produced by determinedly independent musicians, and Fazerdaze is the latest in that tradition. Morningside was written, produced and recorded by Murray, an approach that makes her debut record a genuine expression of her place in the world.
Morningside is out May 5 2017 via Flying Nun, Groenland Records in Europe and Tugboat Records in Japan.
Listen back to Homebrew Monday 20th February for a live set from Fazerdaze. Studio 5 Live is proudly brought to you by Mountain Goat.
