Oakland, singer/songwriter Hazel English released her debut 12-inch vinyl EP, Never Going Home, on House Anxiety/Marathon Artists earlier this month. Today, Hazel airs the final track from the reverb-laced EP online, ‘Make It Better’. Written about the paralysing tug-o’-war we all feel from time to time, ‘Make It Better’ glistens with the lo-fi Californian sunshine sheen Hazel English has completely made her own over the past twelve months. The Never Going Home EP is out, exclusively on 12-inch limited edition collectors vinyl now.

Clad head-to-toe in a seemingly endless supply of dress-up thrift-store costumes, a glance at any of Hazel’s social networks reveals a vivid portal into her timeless world, where sun-bleached snaps bely a million possible stories. She’s an artist for whom the visuals and music go hand-in-hand. If you like your indie lo-fi and dreamy, it’s certainly a good time to be lurking around the Bay Area. Hazel finds herself something of a scene queen amidst the burgeoning jangling happenings around the San Francisco perimeter, which count the likes of her producer Jackson Philips aka Day Wave amongst its ranks, as well as kindred spirits like Craft Spells and Hot Flash Heat Wave, to name but a few. Despite the fun being had locally, Hazel describes her music as, “Transportive. It makes you feel like you’re in a different place”. A very literal example is the title track, which charters the bittersweet abandon of her runaway journey from her native Australia to her new adopted home in an near-cinematic narrative. She’s drawn comparisons to everyone from Alvvays and Pains Of Being Pure At Heart to touring partners Ride, while her soaring, hypnotic, vocal arrangements have been likened to everyone from Grimes to DIIV.

Having extensively toured the west coast of America, Hazel will now take her show further afield, with details of a first European run listed below.

Hazel English – Never Going Home – out now
via House Anxiety/Marathon Artists

1. Never Going Home
2. Make It Better
3. Control
4. It’s Not Real
5. I’m Fine

See Hazel English at the following UK/EU dates:

November 19 | The Poetry Club, Glasgow
November 20 | Headrow House, Leeds
November 21 | The Waiting Room, London
November 23 | Paradiso, Amsterdam
November 24 | Botanique Witloofbar, Brussels