Happy Sunday, folks. I am beyond excited to share the news that Hazey Jane are back! The indie-folk trio from London have long been friends of the blog - I premiered a video for their track Mother's Lie way back in late 2017 - but they've been away for a couple of years on a health hiatus. The time away from performing has proven productive when it comes to writing, and they're back with an EP ready to release later this year. The first taste of it arrived a couple of days ago in the shape of Be Better Today, and it is (of course) all sorts of lovely. I've missed these guys.
The band explain that the new track "addresses the difficulty we all experience when trying to empathise with people we do not understand. The song imagines "a room full of love", a space representing kindness and tolerance, from which it is all too easy to walk away. 'Be Better Today' is not merely a criticism of narrow-mindedness, but rather an invitation to pause, listen and be conscious of experiences other than our own."
Let me introduce (or hopefully re-introduce) you to Hazey Jane. I have a bunch of lovely memories of seeing them live over the last couple of years... running the door for a fun headline Oxford gig, having them play at the Tigmus festival we organised a couple of summers ago, and two wonderful sets at The Alternative Escape in Brighton. A video premiere I did for the band remains one of my most viewed posts of all time. Taking inspiration from the likes of Nick Drake, Joni Mitchell and Ben Howard, their music is driven by gorgeous four-part harmonies, storytelling lyrics and pop hooks. Whether live or otherwise, you can't help but smile listening to these guys.
It's a joy to be asked to premiere their latest single, Lay Low, which is out today. Calling for the listener to "bury your phone in the soil" and to "put yourself first, put yourself out of range" the track speaks to some modern day anxieties that a lot of us share. The band describe the track as "encouraging the listener to bury their phone and slow down, Lay Low explores ways in which to release modern-day pressures that lead to worry." Take a listen below - and on Spotify.
Hazey Jane celebrate the single release with a headline show at London's Old Blue Last on 15th May - event here.
Tigmus and Sofar Sounds alum Hazey Jane shared their Lifeboat EP a few weeks back - it pools together recent singles from the last year or so, including the title track Lifeboat, Mirror View and Mother's Lie, for which I was really proud to premiere the video last year (check out that post here.) Taking influence from the likes of Nick Drake, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan and Neil Young, the tracks showcase a passion for songwriting and some beautiful harmonies, and are a perfect acoustic accompaniment for the Summer evenings!
It was a joy to catch up with the wonderful Hazey Jane chaps this weekend at The Great Escape. They're launching their new Lifeboat EP with a show at The George Tavern this Friday (last few tickets for that here) - I'm loving the title track which they released last week, especially the acoustic video I've embedded below! Check out my interview with the band below and keep an ear out for the EP this Friday.
Hello! First up, introductions. Who are Hazey Jane and how did the band first form?
Hello! We are Bobby, Laurent, Connor and Paul. When in the same room, we make harmony driven, indie-folk tunes and work out. None of us work out. The band met at University in Southampton although Bob and Laurent started crafting Green Day enthused post-punk hits when they were 14.
From the name it’s clear that the likes of Nick Drake may have an influence on you - who else influences you as a band?
Nick Drake was indeed the greatest influence on our songwriting growing up. We emerged into our twenties from the particularly melancholy but inspiring haze he cast over so many Folksters of our generation. We place John Martyn, Joni Mitchell, John Prine, Judee Sill, CSNY (the list goes on) on the same pedestal, but Hazeyjane-Solidair-Blue just wasn’t snappy enough. Recently, the careers of Ben Howard, Johnny Flynn and Laura Marling have offered a lot of motivation and insight. Seeing bands like Bon Iver & War On Drugs live has certainly steered us too.
I was honoured to premiere the video for your brilliant tune Mother’s Lie back in November (and it proved quite the hit on the blog - it’s the fourth most viewed post on there!) What’s been happening in the world of Hazey Jane since then?
Fourth? Who’re those other three punks? Thank you for helping us get it out there! Hearing that people respond to any of our songs is a massive privilege and keeps us plugging away. Since November, HJ released Mirror View (our second single) - we played a sold out launch show for that one which was incredible. We recently got our mitts on a keyboard so have been writing a bunch of new tunes on that. Otherwise we’ve been keeping it real, preparing for our EP release and looking forward to a busy old Summer.
Your new Lifeboat EP is due for release this Friday - how does it feel to finally get it out into the world? How did the writing and recording process for this EP compare to that of your 2016 EP Us On A Wire?
Really quite good yeah. This collection of songs means a huge amount to us and we can’t wait to get them out there in the open. Us On A Wire was a folk EP. We recorded each song live with the help of two phenomenal engineers and mixed using analogue gear that we had no right to access. Lifeboat is our first step towards a bigger sound. We organically went for bolder chorus’s during the writing process and Jamie Dodd at The Animal Farm did a sublime job making the best of those in the studio. We owe him alot for the soundscape on the first three tracks. Rees Broomfield and Edd Thomas worked wonders on Grow and Losing My Mind respectively. We’re very fortunate to be working with such talented people throughout the production process.
You’re launching the new EP with a launch show at London’s George Tavern this Friday - what can people expect from the gig? (Beyond the brilliant support acts Me and the Moon and Dessie Magee!)
We couldn’t have hoped for stronger openers than Me and the Moon and Dessie, they’re both doing brilliantly at the moment and we can’t wait for their sets on Friday. We’ll be playing tunes from our acoustic, harmony driven catalogue before delving into heftier instrumentals and of course all the tracks from the new EP! The keys will be in tow so everyone will get a taste of the music we’ve been piecing together very recently … there might even be a couple of surprises in there.
What else do you have planned for Summer beyond this gig - any exciting festival appearances?!
We’ve got a couple of great festival opportunities this Summer. The absolute cream of the crop will be our headline set on The Den stage at Cambridge Folk Festival, where we’ll be sharing the bill with John Prine, First Aid Kit and Patti Smith. It’s always been an important festival for British Folk music and we’re very fortunate to be invited in. We’ll be at Greenbelt Festival in August too, another huge weekend with a couple of stonking headliners. Principally Pussy Riot! In terms of the very near future, we’re really excited to be at Hope Festival on Sunday 27th May! These are all firsts for us so we’re genuinely happy to be playing.
Talking of festivals… it was lovely to catch you for the first time in almost a year at The Great Escape last week in Brighton. What else did you get up to down at the seaside? Tell me some Hazey Jane go-to things to do when you’re playing shows out of town!
What a weekend. TGE was so much fun on Saturday, we played East Street Tap where we discovered top band after top band. Great to see our label mates Little Brother Eli live for the first time, they were sublime. We also played at The Brighton Fringe the following day, Dessie Magee was running a stage there so it was great to catch up with him. We stayed in Hastings overnight, classic fish and chips on the beach Sunday morning (Pam’s Chippy, represent). Fell asleep by the sea, woke up beetroot red. Plenty of beer garden action … I’m afraid the rest of the bands activities were far too moronic to elaborate here.
Finally, who’s in your headphones at the minute, who should I be listening to? If I could recommend you one EP at the moment it would be Franc Moody with ‘Dance Moves’ - 31 minutes of pure funk.
Too right, that is 31 mins of pure funk. You aren't lying! Right now we’re gladly accepting each installment of the new Ben Howard album as it comes. Three gorgeous songs so far, cannot wait to hear the whole thing.
"Hackney based, harmony driven and easily confused." That's the pretty concise description of Hazey Jane that you'll find if you head to their Facebook page, surely enough to entice you in? They're a folk-indie quartet from London and they've just followed up their Us On A Wire EP with the brilliant new single Mother's Lie (their debut single, in fact, released through Animal Farm.) I've seen them performing live a few times this year at various Tigmus shows, including a headline gig in Oxford and this has been my favourite track from their live set each time so I'm chuffed that they've released it and I'm proud to be premiering the video for the track, directed by Liam Egan.
You can catch Hazey Jane live in London at legendary venue The George Tavern for Tigmus on 9th December alongside Richard Morris and Lewis McKale - tickets here, and perhaps they'll throw in a Christmas tune?!
