Amelia Murray’s decision to take a break from everything in May 2018 seemed a little dramatic and concerning at the time, but it turns out she was just a couple years ahead of the rest of world in needing to just stay home for a while. In a press release, she reflects on the need for the break:

No longer being stoic and strong was the best thing I ever did for myself. Giving up on the people and things that weren’t working in my life was this big release where I could finally put down this weight that I was carrying, and ever since then everything has been better in my life overall. I can hear my intuition and write songs and be creative; I signed a record deal, I moved into my own place. It’s like the floodgates opened for good stuff coming into my life.

Amelia Murray, Fazerdaze

So it’s great news that five years on from her winsome debut Morningside she’s in a better place and finally back with new music. And, despite the sickly, cross-processed green aesthetic of the cover art, it’s more charming, mid-fi bedroom dream-pop that’s what the world needs now. The press materials nod more towards harder, ’90s grunge-era influences, but I’m not hearing it (yet) and that’s okay.

Says Murray:

Now in some weird way I feel invincible, things don’t seep into me the way they used to. I feel strong, and I feel like it’s my job now to put it into the music and the way that I carry myself as Fazerdaze. It’s been a tough journey into adulthood, so if I can make that journey a tiny bit easier for the next person then maybe I have done my bit on earth.

Amelia Murray, Fazerdaze

There’s no official details on a second album yet, but surely it’s coming. But until then: