| HAZEL ENGLISH SHARES NEW VIDEO FOR "NEVER GOING HOME" VIA GORILLA VS. BEAR DEBUT EP NEVER GOING HOME DUE OCTOBER 7TH ON HOUSE ANXIETY / MARATHON ARTISTS |
Photo credit: Julie Juarez
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WATCH: "Never Going Home" -
"Achingly gorgeous" - Gorilla Vs. Bear
Hazel English is a 25-year-old Oakland-based artist who makes beautifully blurry indie-pop music powered by transcendent melodies and caked in layers of Californian sunshine and redolent reverb. Today she announces her debut 12-inch vinyl EP, Never Going Home, on House Anxiety / Marathon Artists, collating a brilliant snap-shot of her DIY creations to date.
Those that have followed her ascendance through the blogosphere so far will recognise the title track "Never Going Home" - to commemorate this EP announcement it's now complete with an accompanying video trailing her mountaintop journey through local idyls - as well as "It's Not Real". Both of the aforementioned tracks were first premiered in demo-form via her SoundCloud and with the help of trailblazing champions like Gorilla Vs. Bear, Stereogum and The Line of Best Fit, have clocked up over a million listens between them, making her something of an online sensation before she was even signed. The EP also contains three entirely unheard new gems in "Control", "Make It Better" and "I'm Fine" which will all be unearthed very soon (starting today Hazel will drop a new track from the EP on Spotify / iTunes / Soundcloud every three weeks), the whole record is available to pre-order now on limited edition collectors vinyl.
Meticulously clad head-to-toe in a seemingly endless supply of dress-up thrift-store costumes, a glance at any of Hazel's social networks reveals a vivid portal into her timeless world, where sun-bleached snaps bely a million possible stories. She's an artist for whom the visuals and music go hand-in-hand. If you like your indie lo-fi and dreamy, it's certainly a good time to be lurking around the Bay Area. Hazel finds herself something of a scene queen amidst the burgeoning jangling happenings around the San Francisco perimeter, which count the likes of her producer Jackson Philips aka Day Wave amongst it ranks, as well as kindred spirits like Craft Spells and Hot Flash Heat Wave, to name but a few. Despite the fun being had locally, Hazel describes her music as, "Transportive. It makes you feel like you're in a different place". A very literal example is the title track, which charters the bittersweet abandon of her runaway journey from her native Australia to her new adopted home in a near-cinematic narrative. She's drawn comparisons to everyone from Alvvays and Pains Of Being Pure At Heart to touring partners Ride, while her soaring, hypnotic, vocal arrangements have been likened to everyone from Grimes to DIIV.
Having extensively toured the west coast, plans are afoot to take her acclaimed live show further afield, with both a national US tour and full European run on the cards to support her official debut release.
PRE-ORDER: Never Going Home
Hazel English
Never Going Home
10/7/16
House Anxiety / Marathon Artists
1. Never Going Home
2. Make It Better 3. Control 4. It's Not Real 5. I'm Fine |
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