Last month’s return of the magnificent Fazerdaze (the brilliant work of singer/producer/multi-instrumentalist Amelia Murray) with the single ‘Come Apart was enough to thrill anyone’s heart (see my review here). Now to add an irreducible burnish to a darkened world, Fazerdaze has just announced the release of an EP, ‘Break!’, through section 1/Flying Nun Records. To whet our appetites, Fazerdaze has also released the title track from the EP – another fine example of Murray’s unerring ear for melody and anthems, as well as a short film that details the reasons behind her five year break (an apposite description that informs the very title of the EP and song),
The rougher hewn edge to the song ‘Break!’ continues the trend from the earlier release: guitars positively buzz and jangle with an angry fuzz and the vocals create a distant, almost dissociated attitude-laden thrill. The sound is more mature and to a degree a little more world weary than we saw in her debut album ‘Morningside’.
Murray’s vocals have a sneery, disdainful element as she excoriates a past lover:
something’s gotta break, something’s gotta break
something gotta give, something’s gotta give
you just give and take, I just take and give
aren’t you gonna say, cut yourself a break
there’s no way
The distorted vocals and the raw guitars provide a visceral delivery sweetened by the lilting melodies and ebbing pace. The accompanying hyperactive video was produced and directed by Murray and Joey Clough:
Clough also produced a mini documentary ‘The Thick of It’ that allows Murray to explore and explain the challenges she faced after the universal adulation she received for her debut album ‘Morningside’, and the ensuing years of recovery. It is raw, honest and very affecting piece of work, a paean to the resilience and fortitude Murray has developed on the path to recovery:
‘Break!’ was completed during a three-month-long lockdown in NZ while Murray was living in solitude for the first time and directly in the aftermath of a nine-year-long relationship. Murray says of the creation of the EP:
I wish I had broken earlier because it was one of the truest things I ever did for myself. This EP is about finally allowing myself to give up. It’s about severing from the people in my life that weren’t good for me, and ditching the false parts of myself that were conditioned and not authentic.
It’s everything I wasn’t allowing myself to feel over the past few years; angry, disappointed, cynical, exhausted and over it.
These emotions bleed into the title track: cathartic, grungy and explosive.
‘Break!’ the EP is out on 14 October 2022 in a variety of formats through the link below:
