Hazlett has released his new EP ‘Thundering Hopes’.
After writing songs and playing in various rhythm sections for most of his formative years, Hazlett has embraced his solo sound with his latest EP.
Speaking of the EP, Hazlett said: “It’s about those moments when you move on and feel normal again. The times when you live a little reckless The way you bury certain feelings to protect yourself. Nights when you wonder if it’s okay to be selfish and mornings when you notice nothing’s a waste of time. It’s a collection of stories about fumbling your way to feeling good again and how living’s never perfect, but you can make it pretty.”
To celebrate his EP release, we caught up with Hazlett to discover 5 tracks that influenced ‘Thundering Hopes’.
Bruce Springsteen – Thunder Road Live on Broadway | Listen via Spotify
I’m a lifelong Springsteen fan and this album that came out from his Broadway shows was so amazing. You got to hear first hand his stories and the little details about his songs straight from his voice. Hearing him speak about one of my all-time favourite songs made me think there really is a song in everything if you look hard enough. A lot of nights I would put this album on until I fell asleep.
The 1975 – Somebody Else | Listen via Spotify
This song danced the line so perfectly between relatability and artistry. In my eyes a perfect soundscape dressed in brutally specific but somehow universal lyrics “I’m looking through you while you’re looking through your phone and then leaving with somebody else”. Made me feel safe being blunt in my writing and experimenting more with the instrumentation of pads and synths.
Robyn/Calum Scott – Dancing On My Own | Listen via Spotify
I always loved the original of this song by Robyn, but for some reason it took it being slowed down on piano to hear and realise how heartbreakingly beautiful a dance song can be. The lesson I took is that imagery and analogy are great tools, but sometimes you need to follow it up with something cliché or obvious to have a lasting impact. It’s a masterclass in pop songwriting.
Gretta Ray – Radio Silence | Listen via Spotify
I struggled a lot with getting out of my usual melodic habits writing. I would get so fed up with everything that I wrote, thinking it sounded the same and too boring. I came across this song by Gretta Ray and it blew me away. Not only is her voice angelic, but it’s the phrasing and note choices of the melody she uses. It helped open up my writing to try a few new things I had never thought of.
Kendrick Lamar – PRIDE. | Listen via Spotify
I’m a huge fan of words and I feel a lot of the time people consume hip-hop or rap and just accept the fact that they like it, it sounds good and don’t think any further. The way it spotlights lyrics shows the genre has some of the most insanely talented wordsmiths ever. My music might not obviously sound like it but I listen to a lot of hip-hop. From Method Man & Mobb Deep to modern writers like Tyler & Kendrick I love it all. I think I burnt a hole in my ‘good kid, m.A.A.d city‘ album from playing it in the car non-stop, but around this time I was listening to the DAMN. album a lot. Kendrick Lamar is a ridiculously good poet and helped me keep expanding my vocabulary while opening up new ways of phrasing and connecting thoughts.
You can stream Hazlett ‘Thundering Hopes’ EP below via Spotify: