Fazerdaze

The echo-bathed pop songs of Fazerdaze are the creation of New Zealand indie songwriter Amelia Murray. After building a following with short-form releases and international touring, the project's daydreamy full-length debut, Morningside, appeared in 2017. Following a five-year gap between releases, the fuzz-injected, '90s-inspired EP Break! saw release in 2022. Raised in Wellington, Amelia Murray began releasing songs under the name Fazerdaze in 2014. Frustrated with various false starts at starting up bands while attending the University of Auckland, Murray adopted the Fazerdaze moniker and began self-recording and self-releasing her music, and eventually performing local shows. After several completely solo shows performed with backing tracks, Murray met a slew of local musicians and began filling out her sets with auxiliary players, eventually landing on a permanent lineup of herself playing guitar and singing, Mark Perkins on guitar and synthesizer, Benjamin Locke on bass, and Elliot Francis on drums. Touring internationally and playing the festival circuit, the band's profile grew significantly over the next several years. In 2017, Fazerdaze's debut LP, Morningside, was released on the legendary Kiwi pop label Flying Nun, a label Murray had once interned for. Though the live band backed her up at shows, the majority of the instruments on the album were played by Murray herself. Citing burnout as she wrapped up touring in 2018, Murray cut ties with things and people that weren't working in her life, moved into her own place, and stepped away from music. She then turned to her favorite '90s bands, including Blur and Nirvana, for inspiration for new songs and shifted to burgeoning Partisan Records imprint section1. The self-produced, solo-Fazerdaze EP Break! arrived on section1 in October 2022.
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