Dayna Kurtz - Fe Salomon - Mazey Haze
New Orleans music is for dancing. From King Oliver’s hot jazz to Big Freedia’s frantic bounce, whether the sounds are made for quick-stepping in a parade or swaying slow in your sweetheart’s arms, the common thread running through nearly all of it is that it’s made to move to: wiggle, shimmy, shake your hip and let your backbone slip.
With a wide-mouthed, window-rattling sound that stacks up solidly alongside the great blues shouters – Big Maybelle, Big Mama Thornton – Lulu and the Broadsides double-dog dare you not to get out there and move what the good Lord gave you. There’s the whomping “Pretty Good Love,” their scorching, primal take on Iggy Pop’s “I Need Somebody,“ the noirish strut of “You’re Trouble” and Dayna’s tender, aching sounds-like-a-classic soul-ballad “How Do I Stop.”
This is heart-thumping, pulse-pounding blues for both body and spirit, for joy and desire – scorching ballads for slow grinds side-by-side with red-hot movers to jump and jive to, with a nasty beat and a wild guitar. You’ll sweat through your dress, kick off your heels and get back on the dance floor barefoot - Alison Fensterstock.
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Worlds away from the twisted Middle England countryside Fe Salomon tapped into on earlier release “Quintessential England”, “Interstate 10” transports listeners to the endless metropolis of the United States.
Synced to majestic and widescreen arrangements cut straight from a Hollywood flick, “Interstate 10” finds Fe ruminating on her earliest experiences of touring America at the tender age of 19. A backing singer at the time, with no money and only a futile fake ID to make-do with, she remembers:
“”Interstate 10” connects far-flung events that occurred during my travels around the US, including having to escape from a violent manager who gambled all the money away in Vegas. The song was written with my old friend, producer Ru Cook, and it was originally envisioned as a country song.”
With a filmic narrative that deftly conjures the ceaseless stretches of the country’s great highways to the perils of pursuing the American dream, Fe’s dreamily despondent vocals add drama and intrigue, to a cinematic score that builds towards a grandiose, atmospheric climax.
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Indie-rock rising talent Mazey Haze has announced her new EP 'Back to the Start' will be released on 7th April 2023 via LUSTRE. The EP announcement coincides with the release of its second single "I Feel Like a Child", quickly following a string of European tour dates supporting Paolo Nutini and Feng Suave.
On new single “I Feel Like a Child”, with its whimsical, bossa nova flavour and euphoric choruses, Mazey Haze finds release in accepting that it’s okay not to be on the same page as someone else. The song was written as she looked out her bedroom window... “The trees are really pretty in the summer, and you can see the sunshine and all the leaves moving”, she recalls. The opening verse follows her trying to articulate the scene through her own lens, finding delight in mundanity, just like a child would. “The song is about the fact that everyone has their own perception, and that’s fine. There’s no right or wrong. There’s no truth. But what’s important is keeping in touch with your imagination.”
The Amsterdam based artist's forthcoming second EP is reflective of this desire for simplicity: a collage of self-reflection, where thought, feeling and a powerful sense of place merge to make singular worlds that are entirely her own. Toning down the more ethereal, synthetic textures present on her debut EP, Mazey Haze's new material finds her rooting herself to the earth, together with a little less perfectionism. Organic, acoustic sounds, her love of French New Wave cinema, Italian film scores and 60s psych-rock informs the vein of nostalgia that runs through it, finding its way back to a distant world.
Speaking more on the lyrical inspiration of "I Feel Like a Child", Mazey Haze said: "I Feel Like a Child is a song about beautiful mundanity in comparison to superficial humanity. I think these two have an amazing contrast next to each other and they’re two things that have always fascinated me. I want to try and understand why I feel so wonderful and calm when I’m alone looking at some birds in the sky, leafy trees or listening to classical music. And why I feel overwhelmed and confused by so many people (including myself) so much. But mostly, I've figured out that there’s no sense in thinking about these things, but more so to act upon it and feel it."
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