[rating=7.00]
After recording her first EP under the moniker of Fazerdaze in 2014, Amelia Murray hand-stitched fifty cardboard sleeves together and sent them to her fans and friends in Auckland, New Zealand. She found herself sending out more and more copies of the EP, and before long, began touring in support of it. As her fan base continued to grow, Murray signed to Flying Nun Records and began recording her first LP in her bedroom, friend’s flats, and studios. Named after the area of Auckland she now calls home, Morningside is filled with songs that toe the line between dreamy indie-pop and grungy shoegaze.
Morningside begins with the track “Last To Sleep” which combines both Murray’s penchant for dreamy shoegaze vocals and grungy riffs. Murray seems to lament feeling uncomfortable in a relationship as she sings ‘somedays I would let go if I could/I feel more than I ever say…I battle all my second thoughts.’ One of singles from the album, “Lucky Girl,” features vocals drenched in reverb sung over catchy rhythms played at a frantic pace and is easily the most danceable track on the album. The other single, “Take It Slow,” has a much more languid feeling to it as a bass guitar riff and drums take the foreground while Murray sings ‘I don’t know where we’re going/We’ll take it slow’. “Jennifer” is the only track on the album that was also on her previously released EP and seems to be about a long-time friend. Considering how many of Amelia’s songs are at least partly recorded in her bedroom, it seems appropriate that there is song on the album called “Bedroom Talks”. The sounds of crickets dominate the early portion of the song before electronic beats join in a slow rhythm that seamlessly combines with a descending guitar riff. Another in this theme is the track “In My Room”, which dives the furthest into the shoegaze genre with heavily distorted guitar riffs and vocals dripping with reverb in which Murray addresses a common anxiety of many when alone with their thoughts, ‘In my room, I’m so consumed with things that haven’t happened yet’
Considering that Murray performs everything on the album herself, Morningside is an impressive debut LP. Additionally, as only a couple of tracks on Morningside break the three minute mark, it is an easily digestable album and easy to let play over and over again. With catchy tunes and personal lyrics, there is much to be gleaned from Amelia Murray’s debut. Many music fans might only have associated Crowded House (Neil Finn) and The Naked and Famous with New Zealand rock music, but Fazerdaze should inspire a further listen into what the scene has to offer.
