Something Positive marks the second single from California-born, Leeds-based solo artist Hazelene, recorded and mixed by Ian Flynn/Werkhouse Productions (Whitelands, Cheerless) and mastered by Mark Gardener (Ride) at OX4 Sound. The track sees Hazelene venture deeper into atmospheric psych shoegaze territory, a natural progression inspired by psychedelic and rural folk gigs.
Drawing from Hazelene’s reflections, Something Positive sounds like a hazy collision of contemplation and experimentation; a track where ethereality and emotion take center stage.
Hazelene comments: “There’s a contemplative introspection, and mood building, that I love by artists such as Smote, R Loomes, and Lankum. I’m still heavily influenced by 'sparse composition masters’ such as Spacemen 3 and Black Thumb, but I went heavier on this new track.
“I’ve been gigging and playing pitch shifted guitar: this helped to solidify my decision that a guitar can be a bass; the line is blurred when you add pedals.”
Its hypnotic instrumental work, layered harmonies, and ghostly textures embody both the freedom and isolation of honest creation. There’s a tactile rawness beneath its lush shoegaze surface, balancing thickness and fragility in equal measure.
Hazelene continues: “My sound is DIY through necessity, I lack skills to even collaborate productively but then there is no one looking over my shoulder admonishing me ‘you can’t do it like that.’ So if I smash a Frank Ocean bassline into a spooky psych shoegaze feel track, who will stop me? I consider myself an outlier, a Latino descendent expat in Yorkshire, and being neither here nor there played a factor.”
“There’s more complexity with vocal harmonies and intertwined guitar parts, but it’s all still me, playing all the instruments,” the artist concludes. “Shockingly, I created my first real pedalboard this past year, finding a tone I like and making it permanent.”
Hazelene has created a new piece that demonstrates a sound which feels personal while also being expansive and encompassing.
ZR