Fazerdaze – Morningside
“When I’m writing a song I never think about who’s gonna hear it, I just try and think about what I’m feeling, and I try and articulate it.” In a current musical climate which has encouraged the popularisation of bedroom-recorded, diary-entry tracks, intelligent in their expression of the oft inexpressible, it’s no surprise that Fazerdaze’s Amelia Murray characterises her music as slotting into that category.
Significantly, however, it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that Murray’s musicality feels less like bandwagon box-checking, and more like the truly authentic. That is, it feels like the sonic equivalent of an otherwise silent inner monologue, or the secrets caged by your mouth, at risk of involuntarily tumbling out every time you open it, so desperate are they to be verbalised. In short, Morningside feels like an album that had to be made.
Happily this debut album, spanning a play-time of just over 30 minutes, could be summed up as dream-pop easy listening with a razor sharp edge. In charting Murray’s artistic growth, Morningside – the follow up to self-released single Little Uneasy and her debut Fazerdaze EP – reveals her unwavering devotion to expression. A fusion of old thoughts and fresh tracks, what is most striking about Morningside is its metanarrative quality. Like a Russian doll which opens to reveal evermore intimate and foetal musings on communication, self-awareness and comfort, this debut album has, at its core, that which sits on its surface: raw, honest emotion. It wears its heart on its sleeve.
Listen to: Misread, Jennifer, Take It Slow
Buy Fazerdaze - Morningside on LP/CD from Norman Records