The music on the new record from Australian-American singer Hazel English veers from each end of the spectrum within the indie genre. I suppose there aren't too many styles here on Wake UP!, out on Friday on Polyvinyl, but the styles that are here are expertly rendered. Each cut on this one is, if not obviously catchy, at least effervescent and full of the sort of hooks we found in albums from the Swingin' Sixties and the indie-strewn years of the Nineties.
Opener "Born Like" recalls Broadcast and that kind of thing, while the soaring "Shaking" mixes that vibe up with the brand of hooks heard on the final releases from Lush, for instance. Hazel English is an expert at this stuff, with everything here arranged and adorned with instrumentation in a fashion that's really wonderful. The title cut is melodic and sunny, even as "Off My Mind" ventures back into the area of the more diffuse material on Wake UP!.
For all here that feels reminiscent of older practitioners' best stuff, the second half of this record really picks up. There are similarities in material like "Like a Drug" and "Waiting" to that of Rose Elinor Dougall and Angel Olsen, but the touch here is very light. Hazel English doesn't seem to be working too hard to achieve a natural, buoyant tone on each number on Wake UP!. If a listener hears something like "Milk and Honey" and doesn't immediately want to hear everything else this singer has ever sung, I'd be surprised. This album is very easy to enjoy, especially for fans of any of the acts I've mentioned above.
Wake UP! is out on Friday via Polyvinyl Records.
More details on Hazel English via the official Facebook page.
[Photo: Polyvinyl]